Keiko


My SIL Keiko flew in from Japan to spend the holidays with her daughter and grandkids. She arrived Tuesday. All was well. Saturday night she complained that she wasn't feeling well, but refused to let her daughter take he to the hospital. At some point on Sunday afternoon my niece noticed that Keiko had collapsed in the bathroom. Called 911. Ambulance decided to take her to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle (from Anacortes).

She'd had a hemmorragic stroke. She was not showing any brain activity, but they were going to repeat that test as soon as her body was warmer and her blood pressure stabilized. The test at 7 AM Monday showed the same results. Hospital labeled her DNR in case her heart stopped. Niece stayed with her until her father (my brother) could get here from Japan, which wouldn't be until 7 AM Tuesday
morning.

This is what my brother posted on his site:
I got a call this morning about 5 a.m. (I think 2 pm Seattle time) from [daughter] . Keiko passed out. They got her to the hospital in Anacortes and then medivaced her to Seattle - Harborview Hospital - by helicopter. She has a large amount of blood around her brain. She was totally unresponsive to all the tests. They are sure she is brain dead but will do one more set of tests. At that point they will officially declare her dead.
[Son] and I will arrive in Seattle on Tuesday morning (Seattle time) at about 7 a.m. We will go straight to the hospital. We believe that soon after we arrive they will remove the life support machine.
I cannot write any more now. I will contact as many of you as I can after I arrive


When I talked with my niece at 10 AM, my brother, and nephew had arrived and the nurses were in the process of unhooking life support. Now it is just a matter of time.


Added later: It took only ten minutes for her heart to stop. She was effectively dead when on the bathroom floor. The people a the hospital knew this, but were being careful of my niece as she was waiting for her father to arrive. So the official date of death, I think, is Monday, when they did the second tests, which included all manner of ways to evoke a reflex response, for instance, a poke in the eye.
It will be entered on the death certificate that she "died" on Monday, which is good, because Tuesday, today, is her grandson's birthday.

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 4, 2008 at 2:29:00 PM PST

    I saw your post on a message board and wanted to add my condolences here. I lost my daughter because of a similar medical condition--she died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage that happened because of a ruptured brain aneurysm. She was only 27. She died instantly, with no prior warning and no suffering.

    Such a sudden and calamitous shock is hard to bear--but at least there is some consolation in knowing she didn't suffer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WebsterDecember 4, 2008 at 9:13:00 PM PST

    Yes agate, the fact that she did not suffer is no small consolation. It definitely was hardest on my niece who had to deal with the emergency and losing her mother after all, and now my brother, who has to cope with the loss of his wife. Next month he will go back to Japan where he will no longer have Keiko at his side to be his main translator with issues like taxes. I think it will be harder on him than he expects.

    ReplyDelete

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