October 4, 2015

Much has happened since I last updated this site.  My mother fell and broke her hip on December 24, 2013.  We had talked about what would happen if she should fall and back her hip but hoped that would never happen.  But it did. Previous to this she had been staying with my sisters and I, rotating every 3-4 months.  We found that was about the best for all of us when it came to managing her care.

Mom underwent surgery and my husband and I spent Christmas 2013 in Banner Higley Hospital in Mesa, AZ, waiting for her to come out of surgery.  It was a hard decision to make - surgery or not surgery.  Given her Parkinson's and dementia, we knew that given the anesthesia she would possible have a dramatic change in her dementia making her memory worse and could be more confused.
This is what happened.  

My sister, Patricia, flew down to help with decisions as to what to do. We decided that mom would need to go to a rehab, where shortly the professionals found that Mom was not rehab-able. I then decided, with the help of my sisters, that mom would need to live in a Group Home because I wasn't able to care for her in my home.  She was going to need closer supervision then I could give her.

We moved her into the group home - she was not happy.  It was difficult and she seemed to get more and more confused.  My sister, Patricia, is a nurse, and wanted to see if she could possible care for her in her home if she was able to hire some help.  So in March of 2015 Patricia came and got mom moving her to Boise, ID.  Patricia found that in a couple of weeks that she was not able to care for mom in her home either given mom's changes which now we know was from her Lewy Body Dementia.

Mom then was moved to a Group Home in Boise, Idaho, near where Patricia worked so she could go and visit often.  There mom lived out her days.  Patricia visited often - weekly.  Annette and her family visited almost every month from Malad, ID.  I flew up to see her when I could, almost every other month.  We had some good laughs but mom soon became more confused.  Some times when we would visit she would be bright and able to converse but other times she couldn't even keep her eyes open.  The last few months were the worse.

Then I received a call on September 6th, 2015.  Mom had stopped eating.  I flew to Boise, ID, on September 7th.  Her brothers and sister came to be with her on these last days flying in from Oregon and Hawaii.  Her daughter, Annette, came up from Malad, Id.  We sat with her for days.  Nine days later, on September 16, 2015, she finally passed.  No one was with at that time except for the wonderful staff at the group home.  She had fought the good fight and now is at rest.  We miss her and think of her often sometimes with tears and sometimes with joy knowing she is now out of pain and can move freely without her diseased body.  We also know that in heaven there were many waiting for her - her father, her brother, Gary, her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and many beloved friends.