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congestive heart failure death (CHF)

Our legs and ankles start swelling up. What are these balloons doing where my feet used to be? Our bellies can swell up. Feel full of water. We just don't feel hungry with all that water in our bellies.

When we try to sleep at night, we have to pee all the time. How can we get any rest? We feel tired during the day. And we can't get enough sleep at night. This is not easy.

Sometimes we can only sleep at night by sitting up in bed. Too much fluid in our lungs. We wake up gasping for air at night otherwise.

Oxygen tanks help. But then we are on the leash. With that thing in our face. Under our node.

Eventually our poor heart works harder and harder. Gets more an more exhausted. Until it finally gives out. Congestive heart failure death takes place. Our heart takes has found its final rest.

If you are looking for medical information about Congestive Heart Failure, click here.

Life with Bev was slow. Very slow. She still liked to do things by herself. But they took time. And as one of her caregivers my job was one of a patient hand maiden.

I mostly stood by to hand her what she needed for her morning routine: washcloth, tooth brush and paste, skin foundation, eyebrow pencil, lipstick. Bev would not leave her bedroom without her makeup.

After her AM routine she needed to rest for the remainder of the morning. She had an assortment of different pillows to keep her comfortable in her Lazyboy chair: one for her neck, one under her knees, one for her lower back, and one underneath her swollen ankles.

Bev had met her husband Joe when she was 62 and he 65. Their honeymoon was 8 months traveling the US in a comfortable RV. Now both of them were in their 80s. They still had had a good 20 plus years together.

The interesting thing was she felt so much better after that. The only thing she still took were medications that helped her feel better.

About three months later Bev was discharged from hospice. Her diagnosis no longer had a prognosis of less than six months to live. She lived a slow but good life.About six months later her husband Joe had a heart attack and died completely unexpected. What an irony. Here she had been on hospice, and now he died before her.

Bev took her husband's death hard. She went down fast. She did not want to keep living her life without Joe. Too much heart break.

Her heart was getting weaker. She did not want to put on makeup anymore. She hardly came out of bed. She was eating bird's portions. Bev started sleeping much more. Sometimes she talked about her life with Joe. Their long trips in the RV. She kept dreaming about these trips. Daydreaming that he was there with her. That they were on the road together.

Oxygen helped with her difficulty to breathe. She started sleeping in a sitting up position. Dozing in her sitting up position.

Her son was with her the day she was actively dying. He sat by her bed. He held her hand. He told her that he would be fine without her. That it was OK for her to join Joe. That it was OK for her to leave.

At around sunset Bev took her last breath and died. Her congestive heart failure death had finally taken her home.

Gigi had been released from the hospital to die at home. Her left lung had collapsed and could not be re-inflated. Very little oxygen reached her blood. It was a matter of days for congestive heart failure death to release her.

Her body was swollen from water not being released. Her breathing was strained. She eyes were closed. She was resting.

She had a large circle of grown children, their partners, grandchildren, and friends. Her son George and his wife were her primary caregivers. None of them liked to see Gigi go, but knew that her body was worn out. That it was her time to go.

During her last evening a number of them stopped by to say good bye. Gigi was sitting up in her hospital bed, propped up on several pillows. Working hard on her breathing. Working hard on leaving this body. Eventually she slipped into a coma.

Phone calls were made to family members and friends who could not be there. The phone was put to Gigi's ear. Last thank you's, I love you's and good byes were said. It was a warm and friendly atmosphere. There was a lot of love in the room. And then there was Bill. Bill was Gigi's second husband and had been living with her for the last 10 years.

Bill loved Gigi. Had always loved her. They had been high school sweethearts. But he had to go to war. They lost touch. Each had married. Eventually each had lost their spouse to death. They found each other again at a high school reunion. They spent her last years together.

Bill just sat next to Gigi's bed and held her hand. "I never stopped loving her", he told me. He had been part of Gigi's last years, but not part of her family. So he just held her hand.

Gigi lasted through the night, but did not regain consciousness again. Not even when her anxious daughter finally arrived from Texas. Anxious to be seen by mom one more time. Anxious to feel that love one more time.

In the early morning hours Gigi took her last breath and died. The sun had just come up.

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