April 5th

If you are reading this and not say my future children (no chance of you existing anytime soon) or my sister Gabrielle, get out. This is not for you this is for me to get it all out and to not forget all the little details. So as I said get out.

Well to get this story started this downward spiral of life began April 5, 2014 I had been at dad's the night before and got home around 9-9:30 in the morning. Mom was in the kitchen baking this pumpkin cookies from a mix that she had gotten from sharp shopper.She was wearing jeans and this black shirt with white strips running longwise on it. She had me look up how to cook fruit pizza again and had me removing cookies from trays (they had to sit for awhile other wise they would crumple up like the first tray) and icing them.  I carried around Rudolph (our youngest and smallest cat) leaning on my shoulder like a baby how he likes to be carried. I was baby talking him and telling him I wished he could talk and Butterscotch (our middle cat in age at the time) immediately meowed at me and me and mom laughed and joked about his timing. And Nick our beagle was laying on the rug in front of the stove and mom tripped on him and I laughed. She then replied that I shouldn't laugh one of these days we would come home and she and Nick would be dead on the floor with Nick trapped under her. And I laughed and said no Nick would wiggle out.

We gathered the two trays of cookies and the fruit pizza and loaded them in the van (white 2010 dodge grand caravan) and headed into Gabby's play practice (Beauty and the Beast). One of the cookies flew off the tray with the wind. Dad was already there working on the sets and had finished putting the new wheels on the sets. Mom went to help Mrs. Culp and I got roped into helping dad put together the curtains for the library scene. While mom and Mrs. Culp ran around trying to find somewhere to buy pizzas as the one they usually ordered from was closed. After they got back and the kids got pizza dad, mom, and me worked on putting circles on to card board with white sheets glued on to make plates for the be our guest song.

After we left there we headed to New Bethlehem to meet with mom's family for a get together as Dara had just graduated from Medical school and hadn't seen some people in a long time and hadn't meet some spouses and children.  Us and Aunt Marilyn's family where the first ones there, me and Gabby played with Harmony and I some how got talked into giving her piggy back rides (she called them horsey rides and said things like gallop) and while doing so I leaned over by mom and told Harmony to say hi to my mom. We ate and mom got wings and zucchini planks. After everyone finished eating we all started moving around and talking to people. We had cake and cookie cake which Harmony helped served.

Sometime after that mom came over to me and told me she was going to the bathroom and I said okay, which is the last thing I ever got to say to her. Awhile later (no ones really sure the time, probably 10-15 minutes) everyone started heading to Aunt Jeanie's to talk some more.  At this point we where kind of worried where mom was, Jeanie said that we where welcome to come up after we found out where mom was. Aunt Marilyn said they where staying until we found her. Gabby looked into the main dinning room for her and knocked on the bathroom door to no response and the light was out. Then Aunt Marilyn went and knocked on the door and had Dara and me come with her to the second time to make sure that she wasn't missing hearing something. We then had a waitress get the key and unlock the door to make sure she wasn't in there. At first I didn't see her and said so, but then as the door swung open the rest of the way the light reached the side behind the door where she was laying mostly flat with her neck bent and her head up against the wall, I think Dara was the one to say call 911 to the waitress as we rushed in and she then called 911 on her cell.Mom wasn't breathing and was a strange bluish color. Her pants where unzipped and her shirt and cami where up exposing her stomach. 911 instructed us to lay her out flat and as Dara pulled her feet I lowered her head down. As I lowered her head she gurgled and fluid came out of her mouth. Then a doctor that was eating there came in and started CPR and aunt Jeanie arrived, aunt Marilyn must have called her and she rushed in and pulled down mom's shirt and took over CPR.  Sometime after the doctor came in I had retreated to the corner by the toilet and was sitting on the floor sobbing and one of the people working there replaced the light bulb that had gone out. We also asked if they had one of those machines whose name escapes me as I write this that helps restart the heart and they didn't have one and didn't now if any of the surrounding stores had one.  As the fire company and paramedics Aunt Jeanie got me out of the room to give them room to work.

We at first waited across standing in the other bathroom as they took in oxygen and the like in. At some point they handed out Dara's phone in it's red case and mom's red glasses, which none of us remember seeing in there and where defiantly not on her face.At some point they moved us out in to the main area  where restaurant full of people could stare at us. It was either Aunt Jeanie or Uncle Lee who got me my jacket (which I put on as I was freezing probably from shock), mom's jacket, and mom's purse. Aunt Marilyn had Uncle Lee pay our bill. Gabby was holding Harmony who has asking if aunt Annette (who was actually her great aunt) was going to be okay. Gab latter told me that she had been with her when she heard them say call 911. After what felt like forever they wheeled mom out and decided to drive her up in the ambulance not life flight her. Erik one of dad's friends was one of the paramedics there, I don't think he recognized us. There was 3 or 4 drops of blood on the floor just outside the restroom as they wheeled her out, they where perfectly round and most likely from when they put the oxygen tube up her nose. Uncle Roger had taken the van back to there house and Aunt Jeanie was going to drive Gab and me up to Clarion Hospital. As we drove up speeding behind the ambulance I called dad on mom's cell, the first time he didn't answer and I left a message crying and the second time I called he picked up and I told him what was going on and he told me he would meet us at the hospital.

We got the hospital and checked in with the ER. After sitting in the waiting for a few minutes they pulled us back into a little side room, dad arrived and at some point so did Aunt Marilyn and them. Dad and Jean stayed with us and the doctors told us she was in critical condition and they didn't know if she was going to make it. They told us they where going to stabilize her and life flight her to UPMC. Aunt Marilyn said they would meet us down there but they had to go back to Erie to take Harmony home. Harmony hugged me and Gab and told us our mom was going to be okay. Dad called Jed, and they both called the Red Cross trying to get Jed leave from the army to come up. I called Terri our neighbor and asked her to lock up the chickens and told her what was going on as she was mom's friend. Pam and her mom arrived at some point during this to see us and to deal with dad's vehicle. I had to sign paper work and the nurse (a guy) asked me how old I was and I replied 20 to which he responded something like Honey you look like you are 12. They let us see mom on the stretcher before they flew her out. A bunch of nurses that She was bloody but her color looked much better.  Aunt Jeanie was going to drive dad, Gab, and me back to her house to drive the van to Pittsburgh. But first dad had to use the rest room and told me that he would come back. He was joking around but it really wasn't funny.

On they way down I texted Terri a couple times on mom's phone and dad tried to talk about the worse case scenario and I told him no we where not talking about it. We arrived at the hospital and we went through the ER metal detector and checked in while dad parked the van. Then he came back and set off the metal detector with his cane. Then he went to the bathroom after checking on us. The "case" worker came out to take us back and we had to wait for dad to get out of the bathroom. They took as back in to a little room and also had Aunt Jeanie, Laura, and Kristen back there. She talked to us for awhile until the doctor came in and told us that the damage to mom's brain was not survivable. We sat there and cried for awhile. They then took me and Gab back to see her where they had her set up. The gave me the one earring that had survived the trip (the other one must have been lost along the way) back in a little container like the ones for samples with a bright orange lid. They then transferred us upstairs to a large waiting room thing that had TV's and reclining chairs to sleep in along with some other chairs. It was around midnight at this point, so I'm going to cut off here and continue with a new post.