The bigger question would be why didn't she call 911 or see a doctor on her own. Of course it is possible, that the respiratory symptoms came on quite quickly and she was unable to do so.
Gene Hackman and wife found dead
- Thread starter Delco Lion
- Start date
Probably thought she could handle it and didn’t want to leave her husband alone since he was in such a bad state.
This--she knew if she had to go to the hospital that her husband was alone and likely didn't understand just how bad it was so she was trying to self-medicate to be there for him.
Plus, pretty sure she thought it was a much more "regular" sort of illness like a bad cold. She did not likely know that she had a deadly disease.
When she passed, I think the odds are pretty good that he did not take the
likely FISTFUL of BP and other, cardio meds that he was supposed to take every day. 95 year olds on cardio meds don't live long when they quit the meds.
Extremely rare disease. There have been only around 900 cases of it in the USA since 1993, and only a portion of those were fatal. Given the rarity I'd guess it's likely to get misdiagnosed.
according to the CDC:
Hantaviruses can infect and cause serious disease in people worldwide. People get hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. It can also spread through a bite or scratch by a rodent, but this is rare.
Hantaviruses cause two syndromes. Hantaviruses found in the Western Hemisphere, including here in the U.S., can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). The most common hantavirus that causes HPS in the U.S. is spread by the deer mouse.
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a group of clinically similar illnesses caused by hantaviruses found mostly in Europe and Asia. However, Seoul virus, a type of hantavirus that causes HFRS, is found worldwide, including in the United States.
The insinuation is that it is not a single type of mouse or rate. Of course, these are the same people that told us that the Wuhan Virus was from a bat for years. So there's that.
I have elderly neighbors pretty much with same situation. Man - mid-eighties, needs a walker and issues with cognitive. No cell phone and doubt he knows how to use one. Wife - late 70's needs to use a walker or a cane, balance issues but fine mentally. Both have fallen a few times the past year.
Last Friday (best guess) she fell in the bedroom and while trying to get up managed to topple a chair on top of her. I assume that she was carrying her cell phone with her. Her kids tried calling her over the weekend but she didn't answer. They assumed that she just wasn't answering which she was doing as she has been madded at them for taking away her car. They finally came over on Monday and found her in the bedroom lying on the ground (since Friday they assume) and Dad was just doing his thing.
She's currently in the hospital getting checked out.
We now have access to their house to check on them, if (when) needed.
She needs to have her phone on her at all times as she won't wear a Medical alert button.
Last Friday (best guess) she fell in the bedroom and while trying to get up managed to topple a chair on top of her. I assume that she was carrying her cell phone with her. Her kids tried calling her over the weekend but she didn't answer. They assumed that she just wasn't answering which she was doing as she has been madded at them for taking away her car. They finally came over on Monday and found her in the bedroom lying on the ground (since Friday they assume) and Dad was just doing his thing.
She's currently in the hospital getting checked out.
We now have access to their house to check on them, if (when) needed.
She needs to have her phone on her at all times as she won't wear a Medical alert button.
First I heard of the Hantavirus was decades ago when a guy in Pa died from it. He was at his hunting cabin doing a spring cleaning and health officials believed he got it from mice in the cabin.
It was located somewhere in the Marienville/Tionesta area IIRC. Had to be at least 30 yrs ago. Have only heard of a few cases since.
Update, she broke her elbow from the fall and is having some stents put in her heart. She won't take her medicine regularly either.
He said he saw her lying in the bedroom and thought that someone had murdered her.
Family is trying to get one of the kids and his wife to move in or they'll need to go to a home.
Finding someone after a few days, unless it's very cold can be very traumatic for the average person.
Even those who have done it repeatedly, it's not easy . It stays with you forever.
Your reference to a "home" and the thread's subject of the lonely demise of Gene Hackman kind of resonate with me. My wife and I have visited a couple of those "homes" regularly....15 years probably...as charitable work for our Catholic parishes. We pray with the residents...some of them at least...those able to understand and desire our presence.
The two facilities, one in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania, are both middle-of-the-road in quality. Not top notch but not at the bottom of the spectrum either, yet it's a depressing experience nonetheless. My wife shakes it off. It gets to me though.
These places and thousands like them all over the land are basically warehouses for dying. It's the American way of death...modern medical technology keeping people alive for the sake of being alive. Until they finally die, often alone in their beds the way Hackman died. Though he at least was spared the "home" experience.
I'm in my early 70s with two types of cancer and heart disease. Feel perfectly fine. At this point, the docs are wondering why I feel fine but whatever.
People don't get why I'm so casual about my medical situation. Well it's because I know we're all gonna die in the end. No escape. And if you make it to 70 and have had the good fortune of seeing your kids grow up and be successful with families of their own, everything is gravy after that. Plus there are things worse than death. I've seen some of them.
Also, I'd really like for Penn State to win it all before leaving this Valley of Tears. That should keep me alive for the next, oh, 50 years or so...
You’re a good guy for volunteering for that. Tough situation when the kids aren’t close by and the parents are too stubborn for their own good. They absolutely need to have an aid come in at least a few days a week and wear an alert device of some sort. Even if they have limited financial means there are often programs available to provide for at least some in home care.
Often leave gas stove on with 2 deadly results. Asphyxiation or a blast.
Home health does seem to visit 3 - 4 times a week. Not sure what the immediate future will be. Hopefully this incident will be a wake up call for her to start wearing the medical alert, taking her medicine and always having her phone on her body.
I am hoping for the son on disability and his wife to move in.
Good to hear. I went through this with my mom. Scenario was a little different as she declined so rapidly I had to get POA right away to sell her house and get her the proper care, but I was extensively researching the at home care options.
Having a plan for your elderly years are so important as it is very difficult for kids to try to decide what best when a parent declines, sometimes rapidly.
My grandmother had dementia and refused to have in home care. Luckily my parents lived 3 miles away and could check in multiple times daily. There were numerous times that my dad would just sleep there because when he would get there the stove would be on (electric), the TV would be on full blast and the heat all the way up in the summer with all the windows open
He eventually turned most of the breakers off for the house and had to get a programmable thermostat that he could control from his phone. I think he electric bills were over $1000 a few times with a 1300 ish square foot house.
If they weren't so stubborn maybe the kids would be close by. I've seen that first hand, people get fed up and just don't want to be around and put up with it anymore. Stubbornness is very common in PA from my personal experiences, moreso than in other places I've lived.
Stubbornness and on the other end, the expectation that your child/grandchild should automatically drop everything to take care of you. The grandmother I mentioned above thought I should move back 'home' and give up my well paying job and find a worse one back there just so I could be able to do things for her. Quite a few of my HS classmates have had similar experiences. Kind of a 'if you want an inheritance, you need to do what I say' deal.
It doesn't help that PA did a poor job of shifting from blue collar jobs into the modern technology era. For many of us there was little reason to stick around and many family members have stayed within the same 50 mile area for their entire lives. There's a big world out there, most would be wiser if they experienced some of it, personally or professionally.
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