Mom is on Hospice care now but that does not mean she is at deaths door by any means. Hospice is a higher level of care and attention than Home Health but with Hospice we let God's will be done without intervening except what is needed to make sure she is comfortable and not in pain. The philosophy of it is really not any different than what I was working from but being on Hospice care gets her an Aide out here 3x a week and a Nurse 2x a week. On Home Health she does not get near that much attention. They say that often times on Hospice, patients do better and live longer because they are not constantly poked and prodded! Plus when the time comes for Mom to complete this journey I am not required to call an ambulance to come get her, take her to the hospital where she will sit until ... On hospice I will call the RN who will come right out and Mom will be able to complete her journey and start a new one in her room with her stuff and her family close. How much nicer is that for her. When the Nurse was telling me about how Hospice works and to let her know if I was interested I said, "Ya know I feel like I must have missed something because I cannot see why I would not want this for Mom, why would I have to think about it?" And so it is ...
Mom sure has ups and downs ... sometimes she goes for days and will not eat or drink, barely wakes up, until I get to where I am thinking the end is imminent. I get all misty eyed when I am around her, she looks at me with a furrowed brow as if to say "Don't be sad, it is okay". And just about the time I start to consider calling everyone I wake her up the next morning and she is bright eyed and bushy tailed, hungry, cannot wait to get up, talking as much as she is capable of, smiling ... oh yes smiling as if to say, "Ha, I fooled ya, I am just fine!". And the cycle starts again, she will be wonderful for 2 or 3 days, so much so that I want to think SHE IS HEALED ... she is the first one in history to have reversed this terrible disease! And then once again she deteriorates and the strange behavior begins again like it did tonight! I am getting her ready for bed and she is yelling and fussing and so I start to sing. As usual that calms her but tonight only for a while. In a bit she is slapping the air in my direction saying "Shut-up, Shut-up, Shut-up!" That was so different for her. First of all when we were kids shut-up was as bad as any cuss word and second my singing always calms her. Hmmm maybe I was just really off key tonight! ; ) So we will see what tomorrow brings!
This is Mom dressed up for our company!
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