What are the signs of dying?

hi there , ur mom sounds like my dad , i thought he was dying for the past 3 yrs . its all part of dementia .
one week i thought he s on his way out then bam he s all in good mood and happy go man , with my dad i could never tell .

The last active stage of dying, modeling(skin looks kinda purplish on feet,hands, knees). Cold stiff extrimities. Cheyne stokes(rapid,shallow breathing followed by several seconds of no breath). Normally the person is in a comatose state,their eyes will set.

She has stopped eating and slleeps most of the time

I care for a gentleman who is at that point, too. I have been off work with a cold/flu this week, and the updates are so sad. He has stopped eating, sleeps most of the time, can no longer go to the bathroom and will probably be bed-bound by the end of the weekend if not already. I just pray he stays pain-free, which he has been up until this point. I saw color changes more than a month ago and was sure he was shutting down, and then he just totally bounced back and got back to order-barking and his "old self". It didn't last.
I hope you have strength and patience as you go through this.
Ruth

Often, patients in the last stages of life will decline but then have a short "rally" where they appear to be gaining strength. I have seen it so many times with my many elderly family members who have passed. I think that this brief period gives them a last chance to tell everyone goodbye.

My mom had this gurgling sound when she breathed. The day before she died, she held my hand when I was saying goodby in the nursing home, and would not let go. It was like she knew. The next day, the day of, she had to be rushed to the ER to have her lungs suctioned. Her doctor wanted to insert a trach tube and if I would not agree to this, he said he could no longer be her doctor. That evening, I received another call from the nursing home that they found her unresponsive and were sending her to the hospital. When I got to the hospital, the nurse called me into a little room....she had passed. She was not sleeping all the time at the end, there was just this gurgling sound when she breathed. I know of several other people who did stop eating and were sleeping all the time, and in about three days of not eating.....Someone else I know kept having TIA's every so often. She had one the day before I saw her, and passed two days after that. In another case of a cancer patient. I just spoke to her on the phone about coming the next day to see her. That evening, her cousin informed me that she died right after that. So it is different wwith everyone.

my sister is in the final stage of liver cancer she has started passing blood she is very yellow and always sleeps dose that mean she is at the end

GERI:

Dying's a process and a journey that affects and involves the people closest to the individual. Death usually comes unexpectedly, and you need to be prepared. There's a link on Death & Dying somewhere in this website, and there's tons of information on the Web.

In retrospect, I didn't fear my father's death but the thought of not having him around me. I was prepared for what was to come, but his absence is what grieved me the most.

Good luck dearest Lady, and keep us posted.

-- ED

Mom passed away on Feb 21 I just noticed that the livingroom had become quiet as she did have the loud breathing/gurgling sounds. I miss her terribly but not the way she was as I had been longing for the Mom of my childhood who was not this woman. I felt blessed to have gotten to take care of her and help her as she had done my whole life. But for now she is in a better place.

Geri: so sorry for you loss. You were a loving daughter and were present for her during the end of her life...I am sure she appreciated it. My condolences....Lilli