Honoring Susan: A Family's Unexpected Loss

https://couleecremation.com/susan-jane-reinsvold/

My name is Katelyn Reinsvold. I am the daughter of Susan and Steven Reinsvold. The last week of January, we had Influenza A and strep throat come through the house, and on or about January 28th, my mom had an appointment and tested positive for Influenza A. Since her symptoms had just begun less than 24 hours previously, she was able to start Tamiflu. With that being said, we thought all was well.

On Saturday night, February 1st, my mom asked me to bring her my pulse oximeter because she didn't like the way she was wheezing. So I did. I had checked her O2, and it was at 85. I personally didn't like that number, so I told her she should go in, but being a nurse for 23 years, she said she would be fine, which I agreed she was that night.

On Sunday, February 2nd, she woke up and told my dad she had felt worse that day than any other day. As they were laying in bed, as they had for the last week because my dad was just getting over Influenza A, she couldn't stop coughing. At some point, my dad told her he was going to the living room to watch TV. She said that's fine, I'm going to try and sleep. He would occasionally go in to use the bathroom and check on her. At about 6 pm Sunday night, I was getting ready to leave to take my kids to get valentines to give to their teachers as we weren't going to be home on Valentine's Day. Dad once again got up to use the bathroom and check on mom. When he did, my 1-year-old followed him in, and grandma told my 8-year-old to grab her sister. While they were in there, mom told dad that if she wasn't feeling any better by Monday, February 3rd, after her appointment, she was going to the urgent care. As she was telling him that, she was again checking her oxygen, which was at 89. So again, dad went back to the living room to continue watching TV, and I left. Mom said she was going to try and get some more sleep.

I got home about 9 pm and got my kids' food all set up. After that, I was trying to get myself something to eat as it was already 9, and I had to leave for work at 10, and I wasn't even dressed at that point. Well, dad decided he was going to bed, so he went to his room and got into bed. As he was getting in, he went to move mom's arm over when he noticed she was extremely cold. So he got up, turned the light on, and immediately called my name in a panic as he knew something was wrong. So I go in to see what's going on when my dad goes, "What's wrong with her?" as he was trying to wake her up. I have been a CNA for many years working side by side with my mom, and I instantly knew she was gone. So I called 911, and it was too late. She had died sometime between 6 or 7 pm and 9 pm.

Please help us as we have to lay not only my dad's partner of 32 years (would have been 33 years on the 12th) but the best mother any one of us kids could ask for and the most amazing and selfless grammy a child could ask for. Losing her has flipped our world upside down as she was the rock to this family. She was such a strong woman that took the brunt of everything so that no one else had to. She was the foundation that held us together. She was my shoulder to cry on when I very suddenly and unexpectedly lost one of my twin daughters in June of 2023. She put all the funeral arrangements together (of course, asked what I had wanted) so that I wouldn't have to do that and I could grieve the loss of my daughter. She had been in my exact place just years prior when my brother, her son, again lost his life very suddenly and unexpectedly. She didn't want me to have to worry about anything else in that moment other than grieving the loss of my daughter, so she took that burden on. That was who she was. She had a rough and tough exterior, but if you could break those walls down, she was all heart and filled with so much love for not only her family but also everyone she had cared for as a nurse, where she spent the majority of her nursing career at Valley View Healthcare and Rehab.

If you could donate even a little bit to help us lay the most amazing mother and grandmother to rest, we will forever be grateful. If you can't, a prayer would also be appreciated as her husband, three living children, and many grandchildren try and grieve the rock to our whole family. Thank you so much.