Our Aunt Has Passed Away and Our Uncle is Soon to Follow

We've been the primary caretaker for our ailing aunt and uncle for the past month. There have been a lot of 16 hour days and we were even on call at night. It's been grueling and our aunt's condition has deteriorated rapidly. She was still quite aware and able to talk all the way up until 4:38 this morning when we were called to come to her side.

She was struggling to breathe and her heart rate was 180. The hospice nurse said she wasn't going to make it through the day, but we thought it wouldn't be more than a few hours. We massaged her neck and back and teased her and chatted until she finally settled down and started letting go.

Twenty minutes ago, she passed away with us, and our uncle, by her side.

Our uncle is scheduled to pass away using Medical Assistance In Death (which is legal in NM) at 5pm Monday evening.

We're okay and they got all their affairs in order, so we will have some support after they've both passed. The lawyer says we'll be able to stay living here and the people that are inheriting their property (my uncle's niece and nephew-in-law) say they want help moving into the main house, but we're welcome to stay living on this property.

There is going to be a fair amount of turbulence as legal and adulting stuff needs to be done after they've both passed, but we're going to have a lot more time to make art once we've had a bit of time to grieve.

Ever since our aunt entered the hospital, we've been devoting most of our resources to caring for them. We're going to be very sad for their loss. We're also looking forward to their suffering being over and us getting our life back.

Thank you for being here and supporting us. We are going to keep writing, keep loving, and make the best out what our aunt and uncle have given us.