The Bravest Woman I've ever known - my Mom

This is a post long over-due, but one of the hardest for me to write about. But like all the people that took the Polar Bear plunge yesterday I'm just going to jump right in.

On December 12, 2024 we had to call an ambulance for our mom who was struggling to breath due to fluid in her lungs. They did a Thoracentesis and removed several liters of fluid from her lungs. After the procedures mom was able to breath much better, but this was just the beginning of the story.

Mom and I 

On the 14th, after spending the night in the hospital with mom and freezing my butt off, I went home to get some rest. I had barely gotten home when my sister in law, Connie called to say that the minute I left, the doctor showed up (story of my life, everyone I need shows up after I leave!)

Connie said our mom wanted her four children to go to the hospital immediately as she had something she wanted to discuss with us. We all gathered at the hospital where mom told us that the doctor had confirmed a prior diagnosis of lung cancer and he had given her three choices,  one being surgery to remove part of the lung - very dangerous given her age and heart condition and other health issues; two they could place a stint in her lungs to continue to drain the fluid but the cancer was still there and would have to be addressed, plus the chances of infection were high. The third choice was to do nothing, to have Hospice step in, to go home and to make her as comfortable as possible and hopefully she would die peacefully at home surrounded by her family. 

Mom had already made her decision on her own to go home under hospice care, she just wanted the four of us there so she could tell us in person and she wanted us to be in agreement with her. We all were in agreement. 

She came home on 12/14/2024 and we have been celebrating every day that she's been given. She made it through her birthday on the 19th, she made it through Christmas Eve and Day, she made it through the New Year. I can see her deteriorating daily but in small stages, nothing I can pin point. She's on oxygen 24/7 but she can still walk with help to the bathroom and handle her business. Hospice has a nursing aide that is a sweetheart and she comes twice a week to shower mom and make her laugh. They also have a nurse that comes in twice a week to monitor her progress, refill any medications.

Because mom lives with me, I see her on the daily and I'm the one along with my son and daughter that help her at night with anything that she may need, but I have a whole team of siblings and nieces that are stepping in whenever and wherever they are needed...but even with all that …this is hard. We went through the same thing with our dad, but he was in a convalescent hospital, this is very different. I pray that mom passes quietly in her sleep at home, it's what she has always wanted. If you are someone who prays, please pray for her and for us, if you want to put kind and positive thoughts into the world for us, that would also be greatly appreciated.

I will write more another time, I want to write about her and let you know who she is and what she has done for us, she's an amazing, stubborn, smart, talented, beautiful woman, and I am so lucky to have had her to be my mom for 66 years  now...and counting.