MAY 5th……..CINCO de MAYO!
LAST year 2016 working on her JEWELS!
COLORING CLASS
I found it interesting WE GO BACK IN TIME the older we become.
She seemed to ENJOY the COLORING!
THANKS GIVING last year when WE ALWAYS Did the CHRISTMAS PHOTOS!
HAVING A SPECIAL MOMENT!
MY MOTHER was a BIG ANIMAL LOVER as I AM.
We once hid a ROOSTER from MY FATHER in the BASEMENT for a few months!
I remember I begged to STOP at the Chicken Farm on the way to MONTEREY to see my FATHER’s MOTHER every month.
SHE FINALLY RELENTED!
WE called him BERTRAM the BANTI!
WE thought we had a CHICKEN!
2016 CHRISTMAS PHOTO
Headed out to the CHRISTMAS PARTY at work……….in 1985.
My CAT……………. JETE beside me as he always slept in my ballet slippers!
I so wanted to be a BALLERINA!
Just NOT in my CARDS!
MY MOTHER MADE ME OPEN MY EYES and told me in THREE “C” words ,”HE IS CUTE………. CHARMING AND HE CAN COOK!”
But I will save THAT STORY for another DAY…………..
JUST know for now MY MOTHER FOUND MY ROMEO FOR ME!
There were a few trips to the HOSPITAL the last 6 months.This was MOTHER’s DAY 2016.
NOT MY BEST MOTHER’s DAY nor HERS…………
What made my DAY was seeing my YOUNGEST SONS DEAR FRIEND’s photo on the wall of the EMERGENCY ROOM!!!!!!!
HE WAS AN ALL STAR and I couldNOT have been MORE PROUD as I knew THAT KID!!!!!!!!!
I had TEARS in MY EYES as I snapped this photo to send to MY NICHOLAS and MY ITALIAN!
He wasNOT at work the DAY we arrived!
Had he been things would have gone a bit MORE smoothly I am CERTAIN!
I also spilled THE BEANS about his up coming wedding!
None of his CO-WORKERS KNEW ABOUT IT!!!!!!
Look how well MY FLOWERS matched her OUTFIT!
That was BY LUCK!
She too was GLUTEN FREE and I always tried to bring a TREAT!
This was taken about a week before she passed……..
On Monday night she fell out of her bed.
She was left on the carpet for over FIVE HOURS.
She had rug burns all over her body as the skin gets thin as you age.
I found this out the next day in the afternoon………one of the STAFF members of her place of residence decided that it wasNOT RIGHT and got her off the FLOOR!The reasoning I was told from the Hospice people as it was THEIR NURSE who did this was because he had ordered a HOSPITAL BED to be delivered…………that still had not arrived on TUESDAY AFTERNOON while I was there.Once the bed arrived her place of RESIDENCE informed MY NURSE that BARS on the hospital beds are not ALLOWED!If you know me…………….you know the ANGER that came FOURTH from my MOUTH!I was like a GENERAL Throwing orders here and there getting her put back in her own BED where she would be MORE comfortable and SAFER as I had two people round the clock in her room at this point!Another BIG WHO-HA was the day she died HOSPICE took her off ICC which meant NO NURSE BY HER BEDSIDE!Only the CAREGIVER who I had hired more like a BABYSITTER.I had words for the manager of the facility who is about 30 years old and told him what I thought about NO BARS ON THE BED!He informed me it was AN ASSISTED LIVING HOME not a hospital!
Another incident occurred when she fell the first time………..AS people get older there are necklaces and now bracelets one can wear to PUSH if HELP is needed.I spoke to the HEAD TECH MED YOUNG GUY about getting one for my Mother the morning after the SECOND FALL.I was expecting it to take about THREE days ………it took THREE MINUTES.This was not OFFERED to us after the first FALL and was not an item that needed to be ORDERED!WHY WAS IT NOT OFFERED AFTER THE FIRST FALL…………..this was than used for the HOSPICE nurse and my CAREGIVER to ring if they needed HELP from other STAFF members………it came in VERY HANDY!
Her last day was a difficult day…………….she wanted OUT of BED and would hold her hands up and say “PULL ME UP” she wanted to sit up with her feet on the FLOOR!Her back HURT from the FALL and it was bruised badly…………my assumption was she was getting up to go to the restroom when she fell.At one point she told me her back felt like it was breaking!The gorgeous young man would tell her” MOM,roll on your side and I will massage your back!”On her last day he had her positioned on her side with a pillow between her knees and a pillow under her arm…………..she finally fell asleep about 4 in the afternoon.
I was called on Friday morning to say the breathing had changed!
I was en-route in POURING RAIN.
This was about 10 am………
MY MOTHER REPEATED THROUGH OUT THE DAY…….”Please may I get up?” “I don’t want to be sick.”
MY MOTHER’s last words to me were “WHY ARE YOU PUNISHING ME?”
By afternoon they thought she might live through the weekend……………..A SOCIAL WORKER showed up as did a CHAPLIN and the HOSPICE DOCTOR who came bursting in CHATTING AT A HIGH LEVEL………..I had NO idea who this person was and I was TIRED.
I told HER SHHHHH!!!!
She continued to speak in a loud voice!
She took one look at her and said maybe we have another day……..
By this time the DEATH RATTLE had started…………..but they did not tell me that!I had heard about this from other friends who had gone through the same thing with their Mother’s.But did not remember at the time it was happening to MY MOTHER!
DEATH RATTLE:Terminal respiratory secretions (or simply terminal secretions), known colloquially as a death rattle, are sounds often produced by someone who is near death as a result of fluids such as saliva and bronchial secretions accumulating in the throat and upper chest.
I decided to go HOME at 8:15 pm……….to get a good night sleep and come back in the morning.Also my CARE GIVER told me people die on their backs not on their sides!SO, between the LOUD DOC saying we may have another day or TWO and MY CARE GIVER SAYING she is not in the right position I felt better about leaving!
It was not an easy decision to make…………..
AT about 11:30pm the HOME phone rang.
I was UPSET with MYSELF!
WE were there by midnight!
WE waited for the HOSPICE NURSE to come and OFFICIALLY PRONOUNCE HER DEAD!
WE THAN waited for the TATTOOED Mortuary MAN to arrive.
THE ITALIAN HELPED HIM…………..
THE WRAP JOB WAS AMAZING TO WATCH………….
He used THE BOTTOM PINK SHEET…asked first if he could; I said NO!
I had my reasons………
The ITALIAN LOOKED AT ME AND I SAID YES!
YOU see that was MY MOTHER in ME kicking in………..
Her sheets were EXTRA DEEP as the mattress was so THICK.
Not easy to find and they are not CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!
MY MOTHER had GREAT TASTE………but she was a bargain shopper………
JUST LIKE ME!
MY MOTHER’s BEDSIDE LAMPS now reside on MY KITCHEN TABLE!
(I have asked the ITALIAN to make them battery operated.)
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
A DAILY REMINDER and perfect for a LONG WINTER’s TABLE……….
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