Mom had been having increasing trouble breathing and had pretty much refused to leave her room at the nursing center for the past two months. Then about the beginning of the month she really started deteriorating rapidly.
Two weeks ago she told me that my brother, Bob, (dead for 7 years) had come to visit her one night and sat on her bed holding her hand and talking for several hours. Then a minister friend (dead for more than 20 years) came and prayed with her. She talked about seeing other friends and having good times with them. I knew she was starting to turn her eyes Homeward.
Friday, May 16th, she began really struggling to breath and her oxygen levels became erratic. Saturday our family starting talking with Hospice. Monday morning we signed the paperwork and Hospice stepped in with their compassionate caring nurses and volunteers to keep her comfortable.
Before, the Hospice nurse arrived for her first visit Monday, Mom and I were talking and she told me about a dream she had had that morning.
Her grandparents raised her and she called them Mommy and Poppy. She said that she was outside, apparently playing with someone, and she heard Mommy and Poppy tell her she needed to come inside because it was getting dark. She said she almost got to the door, when one of the aides at the nursing center turned on all of the lights and made the door disappear. She was so distraught about it. I told her that I would let the staff all know that they needed to leave the lights off or really dim in her room and that if she saw the door again she could walk through it.
On Wednesday, May 21st, about 7 p.m., she did.
Monday morning, while the Hospice nurse was getting to know Mom, Eva and I were there visiting. Eva received an adorable little stuffed elephant from Hospice. I snapped this picture, not knowing that it was the last time they would be together in this life.
3 comments:
Aww. This was a beautiful post. Sorry for your loss. Thankful how The Lord is with us even during the end.
She was a wonderful lady. Many people put the bad mouth on their in-laws. If everyone had the relationship with their in-laws like I had with her, this wouldn't be the case. I will miss her, but she is in a much better place. I look forward to seeing her again someday.
You shared this so beautifully... May this grieving season be blessed with comfort and peace that come directly from The Lord.
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