Sunday, May 16, 2021

An Iditarod friend is ailing

Sad to report Gail died overnight May 22-23

I am sure there are many people who have known Gail Somerville through her Iditarod volunteer work and through her teaching and through her many other activities around Anchorage over the past five decades. This post is to advise all of her medical emergency. Last Wednesday I received the following message. It is from Bonnie Moore, Gail's daughter-in-law:

"Gail is at Providence. She passed out at our house last night while eating dinner. They did tests and found fluid buildup around her lungs and thought that was putting pressure on her heart. A procedure is scheduled but not sure when. She had been suffering from heart issues for the previous six months to a year. I'll keep you updated when we find out more info. Later that night, this followed: "The CT scan showed torn aorta, she's going into surgery soon tonight."

Eventually they decided against surgery and then Friday, this was the story:" Eric (her son) and I are meeting with the dr team this afternoon so we'll have more info later today. Her dementia is really progressed and is worse in the hospital, not wanting to eat, falling asleep a lot etc..
This came through Saturday: "We decided to go the medication route vs surgery route with Gail's care. She has several conditions that raise the risks for surgery and it would definitely progress her dementia which is not a good thing. She is in the Progressive Care Unit since her blood pressure is improving and we will be talking with the discharge team and social services to start looking at getting things set up for her after she leaves the hospital."

Then Sunday: "Our plan is to have Gail stay at her cabin near Palmer after she is discharged while we work on her house in Anchorage. Deborah (Aman) is coming from Florida ( to take care of her there) and then we'll be looking into hiring a PCA.
"Good news! It sounds like there is a possibility of Gail being discharged from the hospital as early as tomorrow.(May 17)" 
"As we find out more I'll let you know."
"Gail's niece Annette has volunteered to host Zoom get togethers on days that she is not teaching. We're still working on a schedule so thank you for your patience as we figure that out. We did a test run this evening and it worked out well. Gail was happy to see familiar faces and laugh about good memories.
I'm humbled and thankful for everyone's kind words, suggestions, and offers of help. It has made this past week easier and much less stressful for our family. As more plans are made we will keep you all in the loop. — Bonnie Moore

This is a link to Bonnie's Facebook page for news and to leave a message for Gail. It's a private group but Bonnie is pretty quick at accepting people.
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