My Mom died this afternoon at 2 PM. My sister and I were fortunate enough to be with her when she stepped fully into the afterlife. The Hospice nurse had adjusted her medications earlier, then the waters calmed and she seemed set on a peaceful course. We noticed her hands becoming cool and her skin… Continue reading Godspeed / April 15, 2008
My mother seems to have moved into a twilight place. She is eating less and less, and sleeping almost all day. The staff at Garden Manor are wonderful, as is Hospice. She is always dressed (which must be an ordeal, since she can’t even stand up on her own) and someone has painted her nails… Continue reading Hospice / April 10, 2008
We got my mother back to Garden Manor today, but now in the skilled nursing unit. Many of her friends (staff) from her old unit came by to visit her. It was the most animated I’d seen her–she smiled broadly, like her old self. Then she seemed to return to the place she’s been occupying… Continue reading Another transition / April 2, 2008
I am slowly allowing myself to realize that this will be my mother’s last infirmity. I kept playing devil’s advocate with myself as she’s failed over the past couple of weeks–how on earth could she fail so quickly?–but this is one of the ways it happens. It boils down, I think, to an injury of… Continue reading The beginning of good-bye / April 1, 2008
