I talked to my mom early on the morning of January 10th. I got a call at 5:55 a.m. from one of the nurses at the facility she was in. They wanted to know if I wanted her sent back to the emergency room because they were having trouble maintaining her oxygen levels. My mom didn’t want to go and so they reached out to me to be the decision maker. I spoke with my mom and asked her how she was feeling and explained to her that she needed to go because if she didn’t, they might not be able to keep her oxygen levels up and she risked dying.

She said that she knew that and told me how much she hated going to the emergency room. In the end, she and the nurse and I decided because her oxygen levels were still in a safe range, she would stay at the facility but would have to go to the emergency room if her levels dropped again.

Before we made that decision, I chatted with my mom for a little while. Later, the nurse who was taking care of her told me that she didn’t remember talking to anyone that morning. But I do, and I remember that the last thing we told each other was, “I love you.”