Yoshiko

This Post is a shout out to Yoshiko my adopted sister????? (JK!)

More shots~~~

Top photo is most of us just lounging outside in Grantsville. Then my brother Paul. Last is Tatiana with her great-uncle Bobby and great-aunt Marie.

Extended...........

In this photo are also my Aunts and Uncles, cousin Rosie is taking the photo.

Septermber 16~~Mama Laid to Rest

The past four days have been all about family. All the children came together and celebrated my mothers life. Several of our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins from Colorado, and Elko NV joined us during this special family time. Yesterday evening was the Vigil and Rosary in Tooele. It was a beautiful and emotional ceremony. Everyone really pulled together to help everyone deal with their emotions. I really would like to thank all my parents friends in Tooele who took the time to come and share in our grief. It really meant alot to the entire family. During the Rosary 2 of my brothers gave Eulogies. They were beautiful and well spoken. I have asked for a copy so I may post it here. Despite all the emotion it was wonderful and such a happy thing to be able to see family from Colorado. I had not seem them is years. Everyone was just wonderful and I'm sure some were terribly tired, having just arrived as the Vigil was getting under way.

Today was the funeral. We arrived within minutes of the ceremony starting. I think everyone was exhausted from the evening before. It turned out to be a beautiful day! Mama would have loved the weather. It was perfect. The Funeral Mass was again emotional but so beautiful. I want to thank the Choir (which my mother was a member of for many years) for singing so beautifully for us. Thanks for singing her favorite song De Colores.

We saw so many people from our days of growing up in the church. I saw my Godmother Agatha. Thank you Agatha for all your help a year ago. I saw so many people I couldn't possibly remember all their names. Bertha Graham you are a Diva, I love you. Evelyn Montoya and (I forget your husbands name) you are such a beautiful couple. Thank's for all your support. Pepe Pacheco you are so wonderful , thank you for being their for my mother during her last days, you are so strong. Peggy thanks for the beautiful music. Father Diaz, thank you for the memorable service. To the guys at Tate Mortuary, you were great, and we appreciate everything. To everyone else who attended, please know that I am desperately trying to remember names. To those of you, I am so thankful for your support. You can't know what it meant to all of us.

We took many pictures which I will post. After the funeral we had a gathering at the church. That was so nice. Thank you Carolina for making sure lunch was put together. After the gathering all the family headed for Grantsville where we laughed and talked about old times. I am hoping we have many more gatherings where we can all just get to know eachother again.

Dorothy Archuleta 8-20-1934~9-9-08

In Loving Memory Of our Mother.

Goobye Mama!

My mother passed on this morning and is now with her husband. We already miss her. The funeral will take place next Tuesday in Tooele. She will be laid to rest next to her husband.

Today there were lots of tears, laughter,more tears, memories and one shouting match. Yet we are all better for having spent the day together trying to get things in order and just talking. Mama loved to talk. So we all talked and talked and talked. It is too hard to put into words what I am feeling exactly, so I won't even try right now. Though I would like to later, so I can just look back on it in the future.

We will all be O.K. and try to live better lives in memory of Mama Dorothy.

Goodnight!

Knowing......

Knowing when someone is going to die is proving to be the toughest thing I have ever dealt with. Tomorrow morning all treatment will be stopped. After , it should only be a matter of hours before she passes. So, we will all meet there at 9 to say our last goodbyes. If my sister is reading this, then I hope you have forgiven me for anything that happened last year. I forgave you the week it happened, I understood your pain. No one ever knows when it is there time, so we should just all say whatever we have to say "in that moment". Don't waste any more time, life is too damn short.

Goodnight

Just got a phone call.

Luckily I was driving when my sister called. When I got into my apartment it took me a good ten minutes to make myself call her back. Apparently the family who were present at the hospital today ( I was working) had a meeting with a counselor. They have finally decided to stop all life saving measures for my mother. On the bright side my sister who had not seen her at all, visited the hospital today. Also, my nephew paid a visit to say goodbye. I know this is for the best. It is what I have been saying all along. Even so, I still feel very , very sad. I am totally going to have to stay busy this evening so I won't have to think too much about it. It sounded like they wanted me to go to the hospital and wait til it's over. I just cannot afford to miss work. Does that sound terrible? God, I'm so confused. I mean none of us know how long it will take. Maybe tomorrow morning I will have made a decision and go down there then. For now, I don't feel like driving. I am exhausted mentally and physically. Please God, let this be the right decision and may she sleep peacefully until she enters your arms.

Bye~

Stalling........at Saltaire

Today we took a very long time to even leave the house to head to Tooele to see my mother. I cleaned the house more than I usually do , just kept on finding chores to keep me busy. Finally at 4 p.m. I could not stall any longer. So we headed out, instead of going directly to the Hospital we stopped at Saltaire. In the past we have loved going here to take photos. So we walked and talked a bit. Then we found a very nice flat rock and I had her lay down, and I took some photos with the sun blinding my eyes. I literally could not see what I was doing! So I was happy I got a few good ones.

Finally we arrive at the hospital at 5 p.m. We sat for 2 hours. In that entire time, my mother did not open her eyes. The nurse said that she did open her eyes when they suctioned her trachea. Also when they cleaned her mouth. It was very sad for us. We found that some ladies from the Catholic church had been by and left the family prayer cards with instructions. I was happy to know that other people had come by to visit. Then an aide came in and told me alot of people from Stockton had been by and had been talking about her. He said alot of people came, so he wanted to know if my mother lived in Stockton. Hmmm , she lives in Grantsville. He did not know who they were, so Im guessing they were from the church. The nurse came back in and told us that she had an infection somewhere and they had changed antibiotics. So that was under control. We finally said goodbye, though I don't really think she was aware we had come. No matter we will go again tomorrow.

On our drive home my brother called and said the hospice we were hoping to get into had declined her , not being comfortable with a tracheostomy. So now we are waiting for Salt Lake Regional to call, she may be admitted as early as tomorrow. I am hoping this all works out.

Right now we are home and my daughters boyfriend is here and we are going to watch the Bucket list. I plan to make my own Bucket list after. Do any of you have a Bucket list?

Ciao For now!
Doris

Yoko Oh No!!!!!!!

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. It reminds of of Yoko Ono, lol. The photo is a little blurry which sort of fits that era doesn't it? Ha, that time period was fuzzy for a few people. Ahhhhh good old days! (Disclaimer: I was too young to really know.)

Almost a week..........

Well, it's been almost a week since this ordeal with my mother began. Today, the hospital performed a tracheotomy. I was not there, I have to work. Anyway, my brother Andrew was and said it went very well. When I got the text from him it took me a few minutes to read the message. I got very tense and had to take a few deep breaths. I was relieved when it read that there were no complications. He also told me that he spent most of his day visiting care facilities here in Salt Lake. If everything works out with her insurance, she will be in a hospice near St. Anns church which is not too far from where I live, about a 10 minute drive. I really give kudos to my brother. He has gone above and beyond in his duties as a son in taking care of the details. He definitely has a strength that will see him through. He is the youngest so I kind of worry about his feelings. I also worry about my youngest sister , I have promised to visit her every weekend. Well, just wanted to update , I will probably blog again when I know more.

Ciao

Labor Day

Got up early after resting well, with the help of Tylenol p.m. Then waited for the awful hailstorm to pass before heading out to Tooele. By the time we got there the rain had eased considerably. We found my mom now in I.C.U. Her heart had stabilized and stayed steady and strong through the night. While we visited she seemed to know that we were there. Holding my hand with her left hand a few times. Once , she wouldn't let go, when I told her I had to go take a break and let in another family member. It was tough, but I kept conversation light and cheerful. When my oldest sister came in the room, we started talking and the conversation got a little more rousing. I noticed that while we talked about anything and everything that my mother opened her eyes and perked up a lot more. I later instructed other family members to talk about anything so she would know what was going on, no matter how trivial they felt it was.

I was able to speak to the Dr. and that was hard. My personal feeling is that my mother should just go naturally without any major life saving measures. Most of the family members feel that way. We do have 2 members who feel that all measures should be exhausted. I am confused by this and trying to understand why. I hate the thought that she is trapped in her body which is failing greatly! But, since she did not have a will stating what her exact wishes would be nor does anyone have power of attorney, it has to be a joint decision. So......now we are left waiting once again. I am not God. I don't know how long she will live without a respirator or a tracheotomy or a feeding tube. I just feel like we shouldn't prolong her suffering. Maybe I am wrong! I would feel terrible if I were wrong. So we have to respect the wishes of those 2 family members even if they are outvoted. They did say that we could give it a couple of weeks, and see if she regains any of her faculties. As it stands now, she can open her eyes for a bit and move her left arm and left leg. We don't really know if that is reflex or she is doing that herself. We don't even know is she can see us when her eyes are open. We do know without a DOUBT that she knows when we are there. Some of us talked and it was mentioned that perhaps she is fighting because she is worried about us. I don't think it is fair for any of us to ask her for anything, except maybe forgiveness. I did tell her that the Priest had come on Friday and performed a ritual where her sins were forgiven. I told her "Mama, right now you don't have any sins." And she just looked at me and held my hand. I wanted to believe that it relaxed her, I did notice she clutched her rosary tighter.

Tonight , I do not feel as devastated as I did the past few days. I think I am coping well. Tatiana is also coping well, she is handling this like a little angel. I love that girl and I totally thank her for being with me every step of this journey. I will return to work tomorrow and just see what the next few days bring.

Peace

Doris