My mom has turned a page and started the final chapter in the story that is her life. We treated the UTI and the infection cleared, but she didn’t bounce back. Gone are the outbursts and table slamming, the frequently repeated queries, and worst of all, the fits of giggles I could send her into just by making a face at my dad. She’s quiet now, barely speaks at all, when she’s awake.
The home health nurse was in today, we need to make the decision of weather to keep her upstairs in her own bed or get a hospital bed for downstairs. We had one for my grandmother, but there were so many more people going in and out then. Nobody but immediate family here now, so I think maybe she’d prefer her own bed, and I believe dad wants her there too.
The physical therapist is coming to evaluate tomorrow, we’ll be getting a visit from a social worker, and home health aides will be coming three times a week to help with her care. It’s all very nice, it’s appreciated, my dad was so impressed with how nice the nurse was, how gentle she was with mom, that mom smiled at her. That’s all we want now. Mom as happy and comfortable as she can be.
No matter how ready you think you are, life can show you that you’re really not. I knew this was coming, I just always thought it would be gradual, like the entire length of this horrible disease up to this point, not at all like it’s happening. It’s as if somebody flipped a switch or turned a page and here we are.
I can only pray that this chapter doesn’t drag on unmercifully. And that she never has a day of pain.
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I don’t know what else to say.
Contact me if you need anything or just want to talk. I think you have my cell #.
your family… i’ll be thinking of you often…