My mom was released from the hospital on Thursday, February 1st. She
had been in there for a full week. In that time she was diagnosed with
the flu, pleural effusion and another UTI. My sister visited with her
everyday and sat at her side for hours. She was acting out in ways that
were so troubling, she required 24/7 care at her bedside to keep her
from pulling out her IVs, etc. During that long stay, it was finally
determined by many doctors that she should be on hospice care when she
returned to the memory care facility. And that is what happened.
On
the morning after her return she was up for breakfast and then spent
hours in the office of the care manager, just hanging out and enjoying
ambiance of office work space. It must be a wonderful reminder of her 40
years managing doctors offices. Look at her after the brutal week she
had.
Is
she not spectacularly amazing, this 92 year old woman with lymphoma,
pleural effusion, a pacemaker, and Alzheimer's? I look at this photo and
I think, "no way this dynamic person is ready to be on hospice care."
And yet, she is. While she is sitting there the pleural space between
her lungs and chest cavity is probably filling with fluid. It will
continue to do that. She may go off hospice for one day next week to
have a drainage tube inserted which hospice would monitor afterward.
It's comfort care and not life-prolonging. We're waiting to see how that
will work out for her. She does have some issues with tubes and it
could be pretty damaging for her to fuss with it and try to tear it
out.
While
she was in the care manager's office, my twin brother emailed a photo
of himself in his backyard. He wanted my mom to see the beautiful garden
space he has been creating back there since his retirement. She loved
looking at the photo. She said, "Oh Michael, he's so handsome."
It
is a heartbreaking time for our family for so many reasons. But we all
agree on this one thing, that this beautiful, vital, and cared-for woman
will be loved all the way to the end and then ... and then... evermore.
Thank
you all for your kind good words, loving energy sent from afar, and all the
shared stories. We are all of this big human family, connected by our
hearts.