 |
Dear Longshippers,
Just to recap, my mom has been
very ill since my son, Gabe, and I discovered her unconscious in her apartment last
Christmas morning. We later found out her congestive heart failure, poor
kidney function, and diabetes were all coming to a head and making her very
ill. She battled through that and had been living in an assisted living
apartment since last February. That had been
going fairly well but fluid buildup in her lungs would cause hospital stays or
unexpected doctor visits every six weeks or so.
Mom just wanted to keep living,
even after surviving two trips up to palliative care, where being discharge isn’t
what’s expected. While her outside world seemed to get smaller, her
happiness didn’t. Actually, I think she seemed to appreciate life all the
more over these past eight months.
My mom had to have an amputation above the knee on her left
leg. This was done late September due to complications with gangrene that
formed in a toe. Alice is diabetic and has very poor blood circulation
going into her legs, and one of her toes had a sore that just wouldn’t
heal. After getting topical treatments since last March, something had to
be done to stop the excruciating pain in her foot.
Amputation was the only choice
we had, and we hoped the above the knee option would give her the best chance
at healing. Well, it didn’t heal like we hoped, and last month she had to
have a second procedure done called debridement to remove the tissue around the
wound that didn’t heal. We later found today that procedure
failed too.
That left us with two
options. We could have another amputation, or move mom back up to
palliative care for the comfort approach. Mom didn’t want any more
surgeries, and I’m not sure any surgeon would opt to perform one on her due to
her other health concerns. So, today Alice has been transferred to
palliative care once again, but this time we know the outcome.
She feels comfortable up there,
and it’s also comforting for me to know she’s in a spot that fully understands
and knows how to handle people in the final stages of life.
We don’t know how much time we
have; could be days or weeks. She’s been nothing short of amazing the way
she’s been so determined to keep fighting these battles and obstacles coming
her way. I told mom that now she no longer has to fight for anything, and
she can go up there and relax.
It’s been a crazy year, but it’s
all necessary.
Thanks for listening,
Tim (Happy)
|
