Re: Contemplating cause of death

From: Del Shannon (delshannon_at_rock.com)
Date: 08/21/04 

Date: 21 Aug 2004 14:28:29 -0700

"Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD" <andrew@heartmdphd.com> wrote in message news:<412570B5.7FC0@heartmdphd.com>...
> Del Shannon wrote:
> >
> > "Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD" <andrew@heartmdphd.com> wrote in message news:<41228AA5.11B9334F@heartmdphd.com>...
> > > Del Shannon wrote:
> > >
> > > > My elderly mother passed away last year at age 91.
> > >
> > > You have my condolences.
> > >
> > > > The year before she
> > > > fell three times on the street while walking with me yet managed to
> > > > get up.
> > >
> > > Uh-oh.
>
> > >
> > > Did she commit suicide?
> >
> > I recall her asking me about some pain medicine she had, how many
> > times a day she should take to relieve pain. When I found the bottle
> > in her bedroom dresser drawer sometime later, it was totally empty.
> > Maybe she used more than she should have? She kept insisting her head
> > was in pain most of the time. I also noticed she walked with a slight
> > limp, as she wanted me to have a cane she had to match her height, a
> > couple months before she died.
> >
> > I also noticed a bruise some inches to the side of her heart. This
> > was before she passed away.
> >
> > >
> > > You've got it.
> >
> > THanks fopr reply.
>
> You are welcome :-)
>
> All praises belong to my heavenly Father, whom I love with all my heart,
> soul, and mind.
>
> > THis is what I've been seeking. I have given it
> > some thought last year and recently it came back to me.
> >
> > >
> > > > Is 91 really a good age to die or
> > > > could she
> > > > she have lived longer?
> > >
> > > She lived longer than the average lifespan of a woman in the U.S. so that
> > > one would tend to believe that your mother was in near-optimal health most
> > > of her life.
> >
> > She was European-born.
>
> Comparable.
>
> > > > Was it their falls during the last year of
> > > > her life
> > > > which brought about her demise?
> > >
> > > They may have been signs of cardiovascular instability rather than the
> > > proximate cause of death.
> >
> > Also, I recall there was a period of time I did not see her in July
> > 2002.
> > When I came in to visdit her, her TV was on full-blast and claimed to
> > have
> > lost her hearing for a little while. Maybe due to stress since she
> > had not
> > seen me?
>
> Stress is not known to cause deafness.
>
> > > You will be in my prayers, dear neighbor whom I love.
> >
> > Cardiovascular instabilty? Caused by what? Not taking heart meds all
> > these
> > years.
>
> Possibly.
>
> > My sister passed away in 1996 at age 56, which made her not
> > herself
> > for a period of time. She did not attend the funeral, though she
> > covered
> > the expenses.
> >
> > Believe me, I pleaded with her to see a doctor when I thought she
> > couldn't hear well or heard noiese she insisted were there when I
> > never heard any.
> > Is it loneliness that killed her?
>
> Loneliness is not a cause of death.

  People have been said to die from a "broken-heart," sometimes
attributed
 to loneliness.

  Strange, one day a buddy of mine and I drove around all Saturday in
Oct 2002
 to buy a new color TV for her, as her old one wasn't functioning as
well.
 When I set it up for her, a few weeks later, she packed the new TV
away. The
 TV was black while the old one was white. Could it be she couldn't
see
 the buttons on it?

>
> You describe something that could ascribed to some kind of dementia.

  Is this an insinuation that dementia was unevitably overcoming the
quality of her life? On the very last day she saw her, her face
appeared to me as if she were extremely tired, possibly lacking a
great deal of sleep (she couldn't, she
insisted), almost as if the skull underneath the skin wanted to break
out onto
the surface. So actually I wasn't all that shocked when we found her
deceased.
Though I was elated that she was out of her agony, I still wondered
whether there is anything I could have done, or nothing. That it was
inevitale?

> > Thanks again.
>
> You are welcome :-)