Two Noras: June 26, 1914 and June 26, 2021

Nora Bauer: Friday, June 26, 1914

Was out to Porter's this evening to see Kate who is home for a few days. Had a dandy time. Came home about 11 o'clock. 

Nora Spitznogle: Saturday, June 26, 2021

Stayed overnight with Dad. Ann and Tim arrived at 1:00 and we met with the PA. Dad died at 7:11 P.M., surrounded by his children. 

I couldn't find a connection between Kate Porter and Grandma Nora. That said, my newspaper search was hampered by the fact that Porter shows up a lot. There was a pharmacy named Porter's and a general store by the same name, not to mention that one of the newspapers at the time was called the Logansport Pharos Reporter and every search picked up the porter part of reporter. 

It's been an incredibly sad day. Poor papa was agitated - I held his hands to try to keep him from picking at his oxygen and numerous tubes. He kept saying, "off off." I finally realized that he wanted the covers off...and then his hospital gown. It was disconcerting to see Dad totally naked, but it calmed him down considerably. 

J.R. had brought a wooden cross from the holy land the day before - it didn't have sharp corners, more like a balloon cross, if that makes sense - Dad enjoyed holding that. 

After Beth left early this morning, I had a totally meltdown, and laid my head on his chest and sobbed. He put his hands on my hair - I'm not sure if it was to comfort me or to try to get the crazy lady away from him. 

He slept a little, then was anxious again. I started saying the rosary at 2:00 A.M., which seemed to help. After an hour I was losing my place and repeating myself and mixing the Hail Mary words up and then crying at the "hour of our death" part.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

It dawned on my that there were probably YouTube videos of people saying the rosary - and there were. I tucked my phone next to Dad's pillow and we both settled down and dozed a bit. I'd put a pillow over the side rail of his bed and laid my head on it. I woke up with a start when Dad poked my shoulder. I wonder if I was snoring?

After a few hours of the rosary - I don't think I could have heard "at the hour of my death" one more time. I switched to Gregorian chants and that seemed to do the trick also.

Beth came back around 7:00 and I took a little breakfast break in the cafeteria.

Lacy, the PA came a talked to us, it was clear that Dad wasn't improving. His oxygen numbers were dropping, even with the 100% oxygen forced-air BiPAP. I wanted to wait for J.R. and Ann to arrive before I okayed the next step. They did take off the leads for the monitoring and other wires - he seemed more comfortable after that.

Dad smiled twice - once when I told him that Ann had landed and would be there within the hour and when the nurse called him Uncle John.

Ann and her husband Tim arrived along with J.R. and his wife Anna, and our cousin Jim Spitznogle. Everyone got time with Dad and with each other. 

I asked Lacy to come in and she did a wonderful job of explaining Dad's treatment so far, showed his chest x-rays, and the prognosis going forward.  

I asked if we could take Dad home for the next step and she thought that Dad wouldn't survive the ride.

With my siblings okay, I asked that they start "comfort care" for Dad at 2:00 P.M. They replaced the noisy BiPAP with a nasal cannula and gave him a combination of morphine and Ativan to make sure that he didn't feel any pain or the anxiety of air hunger.

Cousin Jim led us in the rosary and we all said our favorite prayers and held his hand and rubbed his feet and worked on sending him off in a cloud of love and prayers.

As one of Dad's friends said, his heart was so big that it didn't want to stop.

He died at 7:11 P.M.

I felt so lucky to have been there until the end.

I worked on contacting cousins and Dad's friends and my friends while we were still in the room - it was comforting to see how peaceful he looked.

Beth and I waited for the funeral home to come - I was delighted to see the burgundy velvet cover.

I made some teary phone calls in the hospital parting lot.

On the way home I stopped at my best-friend-since-I-was five house. I needed a sandwich, beer, and someone who knew Dad almost as long as I had.

I finally made it home around midnight - a long hot shower was in order.