My mother passed in June this year. She aspirated on some food (grits, not much), was given some Roxanol orally for relaxation, slipped into unresponsiveness, and never regained consciousness. She passed 29.5 hours later. I was told this was the "disease process," as she had COPD, but this is not a satisfactory answer to me. We know her larynx was swollen, and that at the end she had troubles eating/swallowing, almost as if her involuntary bodily functions were impaired--for instance, she didn't have sufficient cough response due to the COPD. She also had that 'death rattle,' but breathed with help of a Bipap machine (saturation was quite good). If asked today what my mom died of, I am not able to tell anyone, which is quite an important piece of information to be able to pass on to medical professionals which I may see in the future. Can the unresponsiveness be considered coma? I'm just in a fog about what happened, why she never woke up. There are many variables involved in this story, so I realize I may be beginning a give-and-take thread, which would be GREAT. She was only 68 years old, too young to die, so you can understand why I have this need to know what happened to my dear mom.

COPD is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease so your description fits. They can breath easier on oxygen and most are on oxygen for life. I imagine in the final stages they would choke to death not necessarily from food but from restricted airways due to inflammation from the COPD.

I hope this helps. Sorry for your loss, it isn't easy to lose a mom.

Just list your concerns here, gobbled. You asked for no contact via e mail in your profile and you don't have the private message option either.

You did not tell her age, but as people get ollder and in fail health dying is a part of life. It is often hard to accept, I was with my dad when he passed, and he just stopped living, his race had been run and he had so many things he merely passed, We never looked into why, since it was merely his time.

But in many cases when you combine the COPD and the trouble with eating. It is so easy to get choked and stop the air flow to the body and to the brain. Add a person in fail condition and this can easily kill them.

And first people who ask you how she did, are fools and not very polite.
And the answer to that was, her age, it was her time, or so on.
Short of doing a autospy at the time of death to find the exact cause, it was just a combination of all of her poor health issues going against her.

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Originally Posted by tickle

Just list your concerns here, gobbled. You asked for no contact via e mail in your profile and you dont have the private message option either.

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I am a new member and don't know all the ins and outs of how to use this forum, but I believe I have it fixed now. Also, I would prefer email contact rather than a forum, but that's OK.