An observation on hospice care . . .

Today was another typical day -- Bill's mom is no better, no worse. She is sleeping most of the time, and took no nourishment today, and maybe a sip or two of water. She is rarely able to form words, and seems to be slipping away. A wonderful booklet the social worker gave us describes the end of life, and the approximate sequence of events. No two deaths are the same, so there is no "formula" but she certainly is exhibiting many of the characteristics of being near the end. Simply the lack of sustenance means that she won't last more than a few days. As the booklet says, she appears to have one foot in this world, and one foot out.

It has been interesting to be in the hospice care center. I've never had the experience of being inside one before, and it is absolutely the most peaceful place I've ever been in, other than church. This place has 16 beds, and of course all patients are at the end of life. There is the most amazing feeling of peace there -- not just from the people and the surroundings, although both are truly amazing. I've never seen such a level of caring from staff before. Watching the nursing shift change, and the nurses stroking Bill's mom's hair as they care for her. Truly amazing. But what I mean by peaceful is that, despite the fact that all people housed there are on death's door, there is not a sense of dread or doom, but rather that there is a distinct presence of God there. You can almost see angels hovering in the corners, waiting to take their charges to heaven on angel's wings. You can most certainly feel their presence. This is not a sad feeling, but simply a feeling of waiting, and that the hospice is a place of transition. Bill and I both felt the presence of God, and these amazing heavenly angels.

I've never had much experience with angels before, certainly never felt the close presence of them. I've of course been felt the presence of God and His Holy Spirit throughout my life, but this place has angels everywhere. Sometimes out of the corner of my eye, I can almost see them.

Thank you for your support as we go through this difficult time. God bless you.

Some News

Unfortunately, it's not good news. We are flying out to Chicago unexpectedly this Saturday (the 23rd) and we will return on July 1st. Bill's mom is not doing well, and were told to "hurry." So that's what we are doing. Do you know how difficult it is (not to mention expensive!) to get last minute flights to Chicago in the summertime?? Wowzers. Some of the flights we have seats together; some we are in seats just in front of or in back of each other. We got tickets from Chico to San Francisco, then SF to Chicago. On the way home, we go from Chicago to Denver, to SF to Chico. We are hoping that she improves while we are there.

Bill's mom went back into the hospital with a GI bleed (not a good thing). She is refusing treatment, and she says she is just tired. When she leaves the hospital, she will be under hospice care. She is refusing medications and refusing nourishment, so unless we can convince her otherwise, she will not last long.

We are hoping to get her to start eating again, but her COPD and chronic bronchitis and emphysema, in addition to her osteoporosis make life very painful for her. She is 79 years old. If anything proves that smoking is bad for you, watching her go through this does. Please keep our family in your prayers.

We are taking our laptop with us, because I need to keep in touch with work by accessing my work email, so I will also be able to check home email as well. I will be posting any updates to this blog as time permits.

And on another sad note, Bill and I had managed to score some tickets to the Giants-Yankees game in San Francisco this Saturday from my friend Jerry at work, and now we will be in the air when the game begins. **sigh** In light of Bill's mother's health, its a relatively minor thing, but disappointing nonetheless.

Thank you for your support! Talk to you when we return.