The Last Night

I thought I would go back and share some details about Peggy's last night, which was Friday night November 20th. It's remarkable how God was working that day and night.

As I had mentioned in one of my first posts, that it was Peggy's wish to limit the amount of pain medication, so she could interact with those around her and be coherent for her family. I remember her telling me earlier in the week, a nurse came in with a needle and was about to put some medicine in her IV. Peggy saw it and quickly said, "what is that." The nurse said "morphine." Peggy replied, "I didn't ask for that." So no morphine was administered.

I went back to San Diego to check in at work on Friday. I planned to go back up to Ventura County that night. My wife, Lori, and my mom both saw Peggy late Friday night and had a great visit. My wife massaged Peggy's feet, while they talked about a lot of different stuff. Lori said that Peggy was very calm and enjoyed just reciting scripture. It was interesting, just reading scripture aloud really soothed her. The wall to Peggy's right was plastered with visitors' notes and scripture. We'd all read the scriptures off the wall to her.

Laurie Stevenson set up a 3-hour watch rotation for Peggy on Friday night, so Larry could get some much needed rest. As I drove back up to Ventura County on Friday night, I called Laurie Stevenson and asked if she had full coverage for the watch rotations. She said she was having a tough time covering the 4AM to 7AM shift. I told her I would be there to cover it. I felt the Lord reserved that shift for me.

Here is what I gathered from talking to people covering each shift:

Aimee, Peggy friend, covered the 10PM to 1AM shift. Aimee indicated that she wanted to create a real quite environment so Peggy could rest, even though she had been resting most of the day. Sometimes when you are in the hospital the days blend into nights because of all the interruptions, but Aimee created the "night" in the room as best she could. For most of the three hours, Peggy was saying "Ok.......k.........ok.........yes........ok" in differing tones. Aimee just listened in and did not interrupt. Aimee said it was like Peggy was on the phone and the other person on the line was giving her some very detailed information. Toward the end of the shift, Peggy said "OK... LORD!" Aimee figured she was talking to God, but when she made that statement she knew she was talking to God.

The next shift came at 1PM and I spoke with Christine, another one of Peggy's friend. I'll also note that Christine is a registered nurse. She said Peggy was in and out of sleep, asked for water and seemed uncomfortable at times. At one point at about 3AM the nurse came and they woke Peggy. They asked her if she wanted some pain meds. The nurse had three pills and recited to Peggy what each of them were. Peggy opened her eyes and said "I'll have half of that one." They gave it to her and she continued to rest. The point here I'd like to make is that Peggy was totally coherent very close to the end of her earthly life. Christine said she has seen people very close to death and have been no where near the coherent state that Peggy was in. The beauty is that is what she wanted..... to be coherent. Even more, we got to see through Aimee's testimony that the Almighty Creator of the Universe was right there with Peggy..... Amazing! He was right there with Larry's wife; Lexie, Trinity, and Josh's Mom; our sister; my mom and dad's daughter; your friend....God Almighty was conversing with her and escorted into eternity...WOW! Do we have a loving God?

The 4am to 7am shift is the one I covered. My shift was less remarkable. When I arrived God left and went down the hall to get some coffee (just kidding :) ). When I arrived Peggy was sleeping but mildly restless. She'd move her head back at forth at times but did not wake up. I did not tell here I was there because I wanted her to rest. Some time between 5am and 6am she seemed to me to drop into deeper sleep. Just after 6am the nurse and I verified that Peggy had dropped into an unconscious state. Then I called Larry and other family members of the situation and began to read scripture to Peggy off the walls and out of Psalms. At 7am Larry arrived and I left to give Larry some alone time with Peggy. Others showed up, Laurie, Larry's sister; Jeff our brother; Sandy our sister and our mom. Laurie brought some praise music and we just filled the room with praise music and prayer.

At 9:30am Peggy breathed her last with all of us by her side and passed on into eternity with God Almighty! It is sad that Peggy had to go. I think of her all the time. But any tears we shed now are selfish, because Peggy is right where she needs to be, in the presence of the Almighty God. We should all be jealous!

The reason I share all of this in such detail is to memorialize what happened for Peggy's family to read for years to come. I'm not intending to prolong every one's sorrow. We need to continue the grieving process and be free to talk about the wonders of God in Peggy's life. The story continues to be remarkable and things are still happening.

We are so blessed to have such a powerful and mysterious God. He has shown us that He has time to stop by, sit on the edge of our bed and talk.