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Care Partner
of the Month
-November/December I called 2 and 3 times a day and got extensive reports while I was in the process of making her final arrangements. The doctor and nursing staff was wonderful and I felt at peace with the care she was receiving. When you have a loved one in hospital or hospice care you MUST constantly be on the scene. It is the ONLY way to insure that they are cared for properly. If you cannot do it alone, implore the help of family and friends; it makes a difference. My next hardest decision was not to go running to the airport to board a plane to Orlando. There was no one else to make the arrangements of having my mom attended to in Orlando and New York, no one else to secure churches, ministers, funeral directors and burial sites. No one to choose scripture and music. No one to write out her funeral program and obituary. No one to get the financial arrangements in order. No one to bring my sister and her children here for the funeral and finance them during their stay. It became apparent to me that the funds I would have used for the trip would best be served by putting things in order. Especially since my mother was without life insurance. I felt very alone. When you lose your parents, no matter what age, you feel orphaned. And when there is no one else to do the things that must be done there is a deep feeling of loneliness that words can never convey. What I wanted most was to run to my mother's side and I couldn't. I had always been there for her and now my hands were tied. All of this happened just after the blackout of August 2003 so flights were backed up for almost a week which only compounded the problem. I remember whispering several times a day "Hold on Mom, I'm coming". The doctors had expected her to live 24 to 72 hours at the most, but five days later the tenacious little lady I jokingly called "Missy Eva" was still hanging on.   |
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