Gaga in the Hospital

While we were resting in between the morning and evening semi-state basketball games in late March, we received a phone call from Andy’s sister that their mom was in the hospital. I still don’t know if I have all the details correct, but I do know she’d been dealing with neck pain for several months. She also began having difficulty swallowing and eventually her breathing became impacted. It turns out that she was getting sufficient oxygen (for the most party), but her body was no longer properly expelling the CO2. Andy drove up to WI to see her the next day. He spent about a week up there and, toward the end of his visit, it seemed like she was starting to do better, so he came back home to Indiana. He was barely home before he got the news that her health was suffering again and that she may be nearing her final days. It’s hard going through something like this when you are several hours away from your loved one. The kids ended up having goodbye conversations with their Gaga over FaceTime. This was a screenshot from Bella’s last conversation. She was away at school, so I didn’t hear any part of this. But Laura did tell me that everyone got really emotional when Chris (Gaga) shared her sadness over not being here to see her only granddaughter get married. 

After being home for maybe 2 or 3 days, Andy drove back up to WI. It sounds like this time together was so special and meaningful. The originally Kilps 5 had lots of time together in the hospital and at home after Chris was transferred to hospice. They were able to spend precious time together and say all the things you want to say to someone you love. As a mom, I imagine this would be my favorite way to spend my final days. It’s such a blessing they all had that.