Pain Management

"This will be her room", she said as we rounded the corner. Complete with this beauty lying on the bed, Mother Comfort's room awaits. The tour was one of the many bits of this day.

There was the bit where I tried to go to work, but my stomach said, "no", so I went to the hospital instead. There were the bits when we talked with the wonderful nurse who put her whole heart into making Mother Comfort as comfortable as possible and instructed us on things to watch out for with her broken hip, like how important it is for her leg not to turn out because that would really hurt, especially her knee.

When I walked in the room this morning, she was uncomfortable and obviously fussing about something, but unable to express herself fully. Since she has a bit of a habit of fussing, I played a hunch and entered the room saying, "good morning! How are you today" in my most cheery good morning voice. Without opening her eyes, her face lit up in a welcoming smile and she muttered something that had the tone of normal social conversation, but I couldn't be sure of most of the words. Her manner, however, told me that she perceived she was in a familiar environment and we were about to have a nice visit. I told her it was a Monday, so we better put on a nice pot of coffee. She smiled and said, "Paul?" I told her he was on his way and would be there shortly.

She almost never opens her eyes now. She's fairly far away, but still clues in to the tones of friendliness. Bless her.

She will be moving tomorrow to a private home that is licensed to provide care for up to 5 residents. The business is run by an RN who works also for a Hospice organization and she truly has a heart of compassion. While I don't expect this to be an easy time, I do believe she will be in good hands, and Pepsi certainly has some serious competition here.

If only Pepsi would be a good sport and come live with the three other cats who live here. I'm sure she would eventually realize she has been missing out all these years.

We are fluctuating between grief and gratitude. Moments of tears and moments of laughter. All normal and all a healthy part of life. Mother Comfort will be sorely missed.

For a little review, and for those who don't know who Mother Comfort is:
The story began here with the first Mother Comfort post in Sept. of 2010.
Mother Comfort and Grammapat's cataract surgeries.
A special conversation with her on the phone
Mother-in-law's Tongue

The beginning of the end, last November, stuck in the cat closet.
Emergency Room
Admission to Rehab gone wrong
E.R.'s fountain
Cleaning Mother Comfort's house
First day in the second rehab facility
Smiling Mother Comfort at Grammapat's for dinner
Just a few short weeks ago
Well, almost every blip from November 28th until now details the saga of Mother Comfort's journey since she got stuck in the cat closet and had to use Life Line to call us. Her home was extremely full of an entire life's worth of memories and accumulation. Cleaning it and moving everything so that it could be carpeted was no small task. We have been unable to get her back to her home and couldn't support her care there. Last week, she fell and broke her leg just under the hip joint. The entire ball broke off and she will never walk and does not wish to live if she can not recover from this.

She's very tired and so are we. Blip has been a special place to share our story and we appreciate all those who have been faithful friends while we have very little time to spend reaching out.

I will enjoy going back through your blips and catching up when the time comes. Thanks again, you are my champions!