I have sad news to convey. I awoke this morning to a text message from Robert, friend of many of you, and sometimes writer for bullpencatcher.com, telling me that his mother died at 10:10 GMT today. As many of you know she had been recovering from a several-month stay in the hospital after having an allergic reaction to medication for gout that caused her to lose close to 70% of the skin on her body. She was recovering well from the reports I had been receiving from Robert. When I talked with Robert on Friday of last week, he told me that she was going into the hospital for treatment of the skin on her eyes, not a simple and easy procedure, but not one thought to be incredibly dangerous either. Last night I recieved a call from him during which he told me that his father had called earlier in the evening to tell him his mother had turned for the worse and the doctors predicted she would only make it, at most, another week. The loss of her skin had made her very susceptible to bacteria. A staphylococcus (Staph) infection had entered her body and made its way to her heart where it was destroying one of her heart valves. Her heart was, for all intents and purposes, pumping blood back on itself. Robert told me that he and his father had decided not to request more life support once she started to slide. His father told him of the plans he would make for the funeral. Robert was planning to leave Oxford today to go up to Yorkshire to see his mum, perhaps for the last time.
This morning’s message said simply, “My mum died at 10.10 this morning. Could you let people know?”
Keep Robert in your thoughts for the coming days as I imagine they will be difficult ones for him. Please feel free to post comments here if you want.
To paraphrase Tony in The Up Series, talking of his family, “I love them all, all equally, except mum, who I love more, because if the family is a tree then mum is the root.”
Robert’s Entries during his mother’s sickness:
Intensive Care
Small Mercies & Little Miracles
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