I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my original post.
Mom went home to heaven on Saturday, February 16, 2008 after a nine month and 15 day couragous battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. We surrounded her with love as she was called home. Her last words were spoken to me, with the last sentence being "...but I love you more..." before my brother whispered to her what an honor it was that we were allowed to have her as our mother, and as he was sitting back up she drew her last breath.
She never stopped responding to our voices, never slipped into a coma. We were blessed in that respect. Hospice, being the angels that they are, made sure that she was comfortable, painfree and relaxed for the day and a half that we were blessed to take her hand and walk her home. She died exactly the way that she wanted to - at home, surrounded by those whom she dearly loved and who loved her more than their own lives: two of my brothers, her granddaughter (her greatest joy born on her birthday and named after her), our dear friend of 21 years, my husband and myself.
During the afternoon of the 16th, we were blessed to have others who loved her and she loved come by to say their good-byes who were among her "second family" at the Target she worked at for 21 years: Sandy (her partner in crime), her "Sister Alice" and her "Prince Philip." They were each able to tell her how much she meant to them. We shared funny stories of her time at Target, laughed, cried and loved. Two of her other granddaughters came to say good-bye as well as her oldest grandson.
Yet, she choose who would be with her to take her hand and walk her home at the end.
Her showings and funeral were a testament to a life well lived full of love, joy and celebration for who she was. I miss her more today than I did the second that she moved to heaven...but I know she is not far from me. We shared a special bond here on earth that she and I had alone. I don't feel that it's been broken by the distance between us now. When I cry, it is still she who comforts me by my husband telling me what I know only she would be able to say to me.
Again, thank you all for reaching out to help me when I had questions. We found out from Hospice that mom was 'bleeding out' because the cancer had moved into her stomache and most likely had been there for at least a month causing bleeding which in turn made her feel sick all the time and kept her from eating.