NNFF Dedication - Janice Loiselle

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Janice Loiselle

July 7, 1939 - December 3, 2008

I stumbled across your site when my grandmother's doctor told us her diagnosis this past week. She had gone to the emergency room on Saturday, November 22 with stomach pain, which resulted in surgery number 1 Sunday the 24th to remove a bowel obstruction. When her condition failed to improve the next day she was taken down again (Monday the 25th) to check for leaks in her intestines. Finding none, she was closed back up and sent to ICU because of having two surgeries in two days. My grandmother was an extremely joyful person and had the energy of a child even though she was 69 years old. She failed to improve as last week progressed and would only repeat what was spoken to her. We were told she would not survive a third surgery and that it really was not an option, but as her oxygen level continued to decrease we found ourselves watching as she was wheeled away last Friday, the 28th for the third time. She had not been responsive to her family or her nurses for a day before this, but as they left with her she became aware enough in the present to tell my mother and I that she loved us. They were the last words we heard her say, and they could not have been more perfect. A surgery that was supposed to last 3-4 hours was over in an hour and a word we had never heard before was told to us by her surgeon, Necrotizing Fasciitis. It had destroyed all but one foot of her intestines and most of her liver. All hope of her coming home was demolished as he explained what life for her would be like with no intestines, no eating, no drinking, and multiple surgeries to try and repair the lining of her abdomen that had been eaten away. We chose to let her go, it being the hardest decision we will ever make, but we could not bring her back into a world with no quality of life. We turned off her life support on Sunday, November 30th and were amazed that she refused to go. She never regained consciousness and was paralyzed because they could not close her abdomen, but she held on, until today. Four days later her body finally gave up and she left this earth, leaving behind a hole that can never be filled. This disease is a monster, and moves so quickly that you do not know it has arrived until it is too late. It has taken someone that was in extremely good health, and who did not want to leave this way, while her family helplessly watched for 13 days.

Tristan Williams
tristanwilliams_1@hotmail.com

December 2008

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