Routes, in'it?
After a swell night's sleep, I felt energetic enough to head on over and do my route-settin' thang. Oh, and today was the actual Ides of March, not yesterday as I'd stated in my addled sleep-deprived condition. No matter, nothing horrific happened. Put up a good little easy problem, and got to whip up several routes before I headed home.
Tomorrow I take my mother to an appointment with a cardiologist, to further explore what's going on inside her ancient frame. Her doctor had told me to keep an open mind if it turned out that she's a candidate for a pacemaker. Supposedly not a terribly invasive procedure, could contribute to her quality of life, i.e., keep her going so she doesn't have any damaging falls. etc. Perhaps. Things just seem to be getting more complicated regarding maintenance of her health. I wish she could just remain in her pleasant little stasis until one day she simply doesn't wake up. I don't want her to suffer.
Tomorrow I take my mother to an appointment with a cardiologist, to further explore what's going on inside her ancient frame. Her doctor had told me to keep an open mind if it turned out that she's a candidate for a pacemaker. Supposedly not a terribly invasive procedure, could contribute to her quality of life, i.e., keep her going so she doesn't have any damaging falls. etc. Perhaps. Things just seem to be getting more complicated regarding maintenance of her health. I wish she could just remain in her pleasant little stasis until one day she simply doesn't wake up. I don't want her to suffer.
posted by isabelita at 10:18 AM
3 Comments:
I was very fortunate with my own mother in that she was digging out iris corms and seperating them one day and the next she went down and was gone within a week. That week was hell for her though. Pumping goddamn barium enemas in her, looking for cancer. Then she just wanted to come home and die, so we took her out of the hospital and home to her own bed and she died the next day.
My mother died when I was a little girl, and I missed her and still do, but now, my cousins are beginning to care for their parents, my mom's sisters and brothers and their spouses, and while I envy them their long life of having their moms and dads, I don't envy them having to watch their parents alzheimers, bad hearts, cancers, and truthfully, while my mom died of cancer and she suffered, back in those days, they were only able to do so much. she was diagnosed too late, and other than radiation, there wasn't much that could be done and she was sent home to die. I don't know where the life saving procedures should stop and the supportive care begin. It becomes quality of life and a man or woman in their latter years, well is it fair to submit them to all these procedures? I wonder. My uncle just died, he was 88 and had finished three rounds of chemothearpy and finally said, no more. He left the hospital and went to his home and after three weeks, he died. But then, I think if my mom were here, I would do everything to keep her, so I feel your pain, you are between a rock and hard place. Listen to your mom and to your heart, you both will know when it is time to stop the extraordinary life sustainment and then rest. I will be thinking about you.
Thanks for your stories. Only thing is, I really don't want anyone to die in this house. It's a bizarre fantasy for the dying person, and a horrorshow to the loved ones supposedly surrounding the bedside. Great, they die - then what? You're left, upset, and you have to dispose of the body.
All part of life, I know, but as someone said to me recently, it doesn't fit into our lives easily.
Guess we've become - or at least I know I have - distanced from many of the nasty bits. Frankly, i've been okay with that!
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