TheByc'sBlog

TheByc'sBlog
My Many Hats

2008-12-07 9:46 PM
My Mom, earlier this year

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Mood:
Sad

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This is something I wrote after returning from moms in May, 2008...keep in mind, both my husband and one brother are named Mike...

I am trying to send one update to a lot of folks...sorry if this is old news....

My mother was diagnosed as a terminal Hospice patient and I decided to move in to her home, to help my siblings care for her. I moved in on March 15th, knowing that Alisha was to have her baby sometime near April 15th. I took a leave of absence, and used up some of my vacation pay during this time. We were told mom would probably have about 7-14 days, without her medication keeping her alive, her heart was just too far gone. It was at approximatly 25% capacity. Her little brother came up for that first week, from North Carolina, and they had not seen each other in 7 years or so. It was great to see him, and she was thrilled. She was under her own power during that time, and they had a great visit. Of course, she had Alzheimers, asthma, and type 2 diabetes on top of her congestive heart failure.

It was a very trying time, and also very rewarding. I would do it all again. Four of us kids (Mike, Cindy, me and Rhonda) were there for the first five weeks, with Gary replacing me from Arizona so I could come home to Seattle to be with Alisha for the birth of her baby. I got here on Sunday April 13th, and Aurelia was born the next day. I spent the week at home, seeing them as much as I could, and trying to squeeze in a few shifts at work. Mom was to go to a five day "respit" care at a nursing home during my time at home, but she fell trying to get out of bed, so we decided to bring her back home immediatly. That meant Gary coming to get me early, and I left here on Monday, April 21st, one week after Aurelia's birth. On the next day, Tuesday, my brother Larry left from Las Vegas on his BMW 1200GS (cool bike) at 4:00 in the morning. He rode it hard all day, and arrived 925 miles later on moms front steps at 8:00pm. (yes, Tuesday)...that man has an iron butt!

Mom passed away on Wednesday night/Thursday morning peacefully with all of us at her side. Wednesday was the first time in 18.5 years we had all been together in the same town/room. It was truly an experience and very spiritual. Hopefully we wont have such dire reasons to all come together in the future. We buried her on Tuesday, with a graveside service, followed by a memorial service at her church. It all was very nice, with us "kids" not only designing and producing the programs, but arranging the flowers placed upon her casket. We also did four poster boards with hundreds of pictures of her and us through the years.Things like that are sometimes found morbid, but I have pictures to share if anyone wants to see them, I wont subject you unless asked. Pictures of all of us around her bed on Wednesday, or doing the flowers, or seeing the programs. Rhonda's husband John sang John Michael Montgomery's "No Man's Land" during the service. We went into the santuary to "Circle of Life" from the Lion King, and left to "Celebration" from Kool and the Gang.

I left Kennewick on Saturday morning 9:00, on my BMW R1200C, with Larry on his Beemer. We went on the Washington State side of the Columbia River, doing a lot of really fun, twisty roads. We split up at Interstate 5 around 5pm, him heading south along the Oregon Coast, and me going north to a friends place, where Mike met me on his Goldwing. We stayed in Centralia that night, and took our time riding home Sunday. I am now back to work, getting back to normal. I missed a lot of paychecks, but found that I miss mom more than any money could ever buy.
Sorry this is so long, wasn't sure what to leave out...there is plenty...Hope it makes some sort of sense to you

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