Bettye Furnweger

My Mother passed away on Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, after a long recovery period. Fortunately her passing was peaceful. The doctor had stopped in to see her on Tuesday morning during his normal rounds and she appeared fine. As was her habit, she would doze off for a couple of hours at a time. After the doctor left, she dozed off and died peacefully at around 11:30 AM.

During the last few years, she had been getting weaker and weaker. About two years before they moved out of the family home at 3950 SW First Avenue to an idependent living apartment at the Atrium, she was having difficulty walking. She could still walk, but it was hard. Once at the Atrium, her spirits picked up as she was enjoying a social life she had not known while she was cooped up at home.

Everyday, she would go down with my Dad to eat dinner (the noon meal) and supper (the evening meal). As time passed, she got to the point she could no longer walk down using her walker. My Dad would then wheel her down in her wheel chair.

One day, during the latter part of November, 2012, she could no longer stand. My Dad took her to the emergency room and it was determined she had a kidney stone. Within a week, she had an operation, however, it was not successful as the surgeon discovered she had many kidney stones and some were so large, he could not remove them. Due to her weakened state, it took a couple of months for her to recover, though she still could not walk. Around March, she underwent a second surgery to remove more of the stones, again, the surgeon was not able to complete the operation.

After the second surgery, she never fully recovered. She continued to grow weaker, to the point she could not roll over in bed. However, they continued to give her physical therapy in hopes she would get her strength back. She worked hard with the therapist as she was tired of the nursing home and wanted to go back to the Atrium to live with my Dad.

I, Charles, arrived on a scheduled visit to Gainesville, Florida, on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013. My Mom was weak, but had no trouble carrying on a conversation. I asked her what she wanted for Mother's Day, which was coming up on Sunday, May 12th. She wanted a Chinese dinner from her favorite Chinese restaurant. I joked with her that she always wanted Chinese from the restaurant that was the furtherest from home. She laughed as she understood my joke. I didn't know that was going to be the last time I would see her laugh. Anyway, Helen, my girlfriend, and I drove out to pick up a menu and bring it back to her. This took us about an hour, but I didn't care, it was for my Mom. I left it with her so she could pick out what she wanted.

On Sunday, Helen and I went to the Chinese restaurant and pick up the meal. We took it back to her and the three of us enjoyed our lunch, however she only ate one shrimp from the meal. The next day, she had a lot of visitors and she told all of them how happy she was that I had made a big fuss over her for Mother's day ;-)

My Dad and I spent Monday afternoon with my Mom. She had a few requests regarding the service she was getting at the nursing home and I talked to the staff and her complaints and they were resolved. In evening, my Dad and I said goodbye. Before I left, I told her I loved her. That was the last time I was to speak to my Mother :-(