My Mum.

My mother died today. She was 83 and though she had an ongoing heart condition that we knew was going to cause trouble "one day", she was still going out and about and getting on with her life. Until yesterday afternoon when she was out shopping on the High Street, tripped, fell and broke her hip. Even then she was quite positive about the whole thing and the doctors at the New Royal were going to operate to fix the hip this afternoon or tomorrow. Except quite unexpectedly, after morning ward rounds and as her op was being arranged, she went into cardiac arrest and died almost instantly. Boom. I was actually on the phone to the ward asking about the scheduling of the op as the crash team went in. My sister and I went rushing in to the hospital immediately but we were far too late of course. Not unexpected, given the poor condition of her heart valve, but a bit of a shock nevertheless.

Isn't it amazing how just as you think you're going into a quiet and peaceful patch for a couple of months, life can turn round and bite you on the bum? Poor Mum. She would have been 84 on Tuesday.