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my husband is critically ill, i am terrified

377 replies

lemontruffles · 01/01/2013 04:38

My husband has severe copd (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and yesterday had a severe exacerbation. This means he couldn't breathe properly and is now in hospital.

He is on a ventilator, and not responding well to this treatment after about 40 hours on the ventilator. I am utterly terrified.

I've come home to try to sleep, but can't.

He is only 61. He is terrified too. I simply can't think straight and am in a new and appalling world where nothing is right and everything is terrifying. I can't stop shaking with fear. Please hold my hand.

OP posts:
ssd · 05/01/2013 19:12

lemon, this was sent to me when mum died..hope it helps you a tiny bit xx

" As i sit here in Heaven and watch you everyday.

I try and let you know with signs I never went away.
I hear you when you're laughing and i watch you as you sleep,
I even place my arms around you to calm you as you weep.
I see you wish the days away as you beg to have me home so i try to send you messages, so you know you're not alone.
Don't feel Guilty that you have a Life that was denied to me.
Oh, Heaven is truly Beautiful, just you wait and see.
Please live your Life and laugh again, Enjoy yourself, be free!
Then i'll know with every breath you take you're taking one for me."

TwoFacedCows · 05/01/2013 22:47

Lemon, your husband will never leave you. The love you have described will never go. He will always be there.

I looked at my DH whilst i was reading your posts, and got a lump in my throat.

You are so very strong,

ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 06/01/2013 01:41

You write so beautifully. You have so much clarity of thought.

I am sobbing - for you, for your family, for me, for everyone who understands only too well what you have written.

You are very strong, but allow yourself not to be as well, otherwise you risk bottling it all up, we're also here for the days you aren't doing so well OK x

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 06/01/2013 02:14

Lemon...you truely are an inspiration. You write so beautifully.....keep doing so, it will really help you.

Much love xx

Jules146 · 06/01/2013 13:43

My thoughts go out to you xx

PeggyCarter · 06/01/2013 13:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

namechangerforaday · 06/01/2013 13:52

Lemon - I know its different but I had to post.

I found out one of my children had been abused by someone very close to us, the feelings you describe, the grief, the disassociation, the rising panic, the waking anew to the feelings each morning, those are exactly how I felt.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't function, sleep, eat, care for my children, all normal behaviours went out of the window at the same time as having to deal with officialdom. I more or less abandoned my poor children, they didn't have a mum they had a robot.

It has taken me a year to reach some semblance of normality, but I have reached it. There have been other emotions to work through, rage, guilt when I felt happy - for a long time, it felt wrong to feel normal.

I am getting there now, I don't want to make this about me - I just want you to know those feelings do ease with the passage of time.

Also these helped me a lot, quiet life, I couldn't sleep or eat, these at least got me an hour or twos rest.

Also with the paniced feelings, 7/11 breathing, in for 7, out for 11, to your own count. It really helps, its the breathing pattern of a sleeping baby.

Grounding - keeping your feet on the floor, so you are ready for flight.

Lavender oils on my pillow and I burned geranium oil in a burner all day, I bought a beautiful fairy one for the living room and an angel one for my bedroom.

All these things may sound a bit hippish, but they really helped me - even if it was just a placebo effect.

You can get through this time, even though it may not always seem like it right now, your writing about your husband is beautiful, I know a few large North Walian gentle giants, your husband sounds like a wonderful man.

RabidCarrot · 06/01/2013 13:57

So sorry for your loss Lemon

scottishmummy · 06/01/2013 13:58

so sorry that your husband passed away.how sad
who can support you?don't struggle on alone
take it minute by minute,focus on just getting by.try eat small and frequent.

JuliaScurr · 06/01/2013 14:03

how you doing, lemon?
take it easy, one day at a time
if you can't do a day, do an hour
thinking of you
xxx

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 06/01/2013 14:15

Lemontree, it is a privilege to hear about your husband, he sounds an absolutely fantastic man. My heart goes out to you.

MunchkinsMumof2 · 06/01/2013 15:05

I'm also very sorry for your loss lemontruffles and agree that your darling husband sounds like a gem of a man and you are soulmates, your grief is palpable and I haven't read a single post of yours dry-eyed. It sounds very trite but baby steps forward and the rising panic will gradually fade and you will somehow learn to live with the grief and your children will give your purpose. I am so sad for you.

trulymadlydeeply · 06/01/2013 15:11

Beautiful moving words, Lemon. You paint a wonderful picture of your shared love and values. They cannot be taken away from you and will sustain you in the times to come.

Thinking of you still and sending you love and strength.

thegreylady · 06/01/2013 15:47

So very sorry for your loss.
I lost my husband in 1987 when he was only 46.
I remember so well the mixture of feelings in my case I even felt anger that he had left us [me and 2dc].
Your grief wont heal but eventually it will change.One day you will see the sunshine as a blessing not a mockery and the people going on with their lives will be in your world not a parallel universe.
Dont be afraid-he wouldn't want that.
I wish you peace and love always.

Chopchopbusybusy · 06/01/2013 16:06

I'm very sorry for your loss. I can't think of anything useful to say, but I am thinking of you and wishing you strength to get through these hard times. Actually, the one useful thing I would say is that it's good to talk about your DH. As you are doing here, but hopefully in RL too. xx

LemonMousse · 06/01/2013 16:46

So very sorry to hear your sad news.

I wish you peace and strength for the days ahead.

((((hugs)))) from one Lemon to another x

workhouse · 06/01/2013 18:47

So very sorry x

DancesWithWoolEnPointe · 06/01/2013 18:54

I am dreadfully sorry for your tragic loss. My thoughts to you at this terrible time XXXX

t875 · 06/01/2013 18:55

Oh Lemon Im so sorry to read about your husband. huge {{{hugs}}} to you!! I lost my mum suddenly to a massive stroke 9 months ago and I still miss her like crazy it is a little easier now but i remember at the time I went through the panic you are describing, and some days still are tremendously hard i literally felt like I couldn't breath at times and like you when I look back I had people phone at the right time this also happened to my dad.

I also have had the coins and also have had fluffy white feathers random and other signs, random songs coming on the radio and we have also noticed birds, mainly a robin and the last two months 2 blue tits visit daily which Ive never had before! This has helped to give me little comfort, but my god I miss her.

I have also had me to get through but I have also been there for my dad.

Really feel for you and thinking of you and what a wonderful caring forum this is, with such great support! xx

JellicleCat · 06/01/2013 18:56

Sorry to hear of your loss. Thinking of you.

Skoggy · 06/01/2013 20:31

I'm so sorry for your loss Lemontruffles. You and your family are in my thoughts.

something2say · 06/01/2013 20:44

Hello lemon,
I am so sorry to hear the news. Have read your thread all the way thro and cried on my bf whose dad died some years ago.
When you say that your hub is here with you in a different form, I understand completely. Read The Prophet on death and dying. You will understand.
My dear friend lost her hub on the day of the Olympic closing ceremony. She saw a robin in the garden and knew he was there too. They don't go do they, they just change form.
Lots of love to you x x x

oooggs · 06/01/2013 21:14

I am so very sorry lemontruffles for yours and your familys loss. Hope your strength carries on. Thinking of you and your children

Northern has many words of wisdom, a very thoughful lady

lemontruffles · 06/01/2013 22:08

namechanger your experience has been beyond painful and you clearly have a deep strength to have carried on with such a burden. And you are here, giving me help and support and advice, you are also a wonderful and loving person. Thank you.

I would like to thank everyone who has written to me; you cannot imagine what strength and comfort it has given me to understand that I have been surrounded by such benevolence and care.

My story has now changed and something extraordinary has happened. Before I continue I thought I would say that some people have talked about feeling angry when their loved person dies; I have spent a large part of this year angry at my husband's illness, and I don't think I have any anger left; only grief and loss; the anger is such a hard emotion I found, so distorting and strange, but I feel that one reason that I've been able to be calm enough to change these last 2 days is because my anger was already spent.

My grief has been that he is gone, and I felt that with his death our love has also gone. My terror has been because I cannot imagine continuing without this love except in a cold, lonely, bleak and sad world, and where would I find the strength to continue? And I miss him simply because I miss him; I want to hear his beautiful deep voice, and hear his words, and feel his touch, and he isn't here. and the ache of loss is heartrending.

He has spent the last 2 days teaching me lessons. If you remember, I am a pretty unsentimental and even slightly cynical person, quite pragmatic, emotional but not sentimental, and also deeply insecure about myself and my worth. I've been remembering: the only arguments I can really remember my husband and I ever having were around my deeply embedded insecurities. He had to reassure me over and over again that he loved me, and that I was worth this love. I knew I loved him but found it very hard to accept that he loved me as much in return.

He said I was the love of his life. He said that whatever I did he would always love me. He said he would always fight for us all, and he always wanted the best for all of us.

Yet I found it near on impossible to truly believe this, or at least, I'd believe it for a while, then get insecure, and argue, and he'd reassure me, I'd believe it again, and so on, and so on. What a shame, what a waste of time together that we could have spent doing more life enhancing things; however, I've forgiven myself, and did he, and I'm not going pull myself apart with unnecessary guilt.

This is some background for the next part. It's long, and please don't feel you must read any of it; I just feel a great need to share with you all because you have given me so much, and I want to share my new and strange revelation with you in return.

OP posts:
rubyrubyruby · 06/01/2013 22:29

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