JOURNEY

This past year with my mom has been a bumpy ride. At my request, my sister from the Columbus area brought her down here (near Dayton, Ohio) in March of 2012 to be a resident in the Lamplight Inn assisted living facility. Mom had suffered a fall in her home in February and we think either she had a stroke and fell....or fell then had the stroke. Either way, the experience left her mentally and physically impaired and we knew she needed assistance. We'd known it for awhile, but she wanted to stay in her home for as long as possible, and she was able to do that.  

 

While at Lamplight, Mom endured months of physical therapy and I took her to the weekly visits at the wound specialists at Sycamore Hospital. We encountered other hurdles as well - upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, a few none-injury falls, and a rapid slide into Alzheimer's. She had finally gotten to the place she could call Lamplight her home, but then the unthinkable happened. She fell nearly two weeks ago and broke her upper arm and her pelvis. At the age of 89, she would have had a very long and painful road back to mobility of any sort. Sadly, her body just couldn't take the trauma and she is slipping away from us. She lies in a hospital bed at Lamplight as I type. We had to remove her new "big bed" as she called it, to make room for the hi-lo hospital bed. How she loved that new bed. I'm happy she was able to enjoy that and her new recliner for a time, however short.

 

At first, we thought she might recover, since she's bounced back from things nearly as serious, but she's older now and more frail so we'll have to face reality and try to be satisfied that she had a long life, surrounded by people she loved. She's no longer eating nor taking in fluids and cannot respond verbally at this point. There is evidence of kidney shutdown and her breathing has slowed to about 8 or 9 per minute. So now it's a waiting game. Family is gathering in her room and Hospice nurses attend her (and work to comfort us) around the clock. Today we're going to play music for her and wish her a peaceful journey. The best scenario at this juncture would be to have her pass peacefully while all of us are with her.