June 22, 2010

It’s Just Me and the Ants

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues, Therapeutic Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Lisa and the girls left about an hour ago.  What now?  There are plenty of things that need to be done.  That is not the issue.  There are thank you’s to be written. That will be very therapeutic for me.  The list of minor and major tasks is long.  At the moment I am doing a lot of easy, little things here at the house.

…It is now just me.  Schendel Pest Control Tom just found a huge nest outside the sun room and dispatched the ants.  There are still a few inside the house, but they are feasting on Tero, and if all goes well will be gone soon.

Sun Room contractor Jerry just called to begin work, hopefully, on putting the shade up on the deck.  I guess I am not going to be alone here today after all.  Tom and Jerry will have been over. Who knew?

I am experiencing what I have heard about from others hundreds of times.  It is hard concentrate.  It is hard to muster the stamina to do anything that takes any thought.   Getting out of the house to run errands sounds okay, but there are so many things that need to be done, running errands all day I suspect would get very frustrating.  I would be anxious to get back to the things that need to be done.

By the way, I am not (at least at the moment) whining about my situation.  I am just describing it.  There will, I am sure, be plenty of whining going on soon enough.

There was a large stack of cards in the mail again today, along with a packet from Thrivent (our church sponsored financial organization).  There was in that packet a CD of some songs that actually turned out to be helpful while I opened cards.  This is a time when simple truths, ones with which we get bored in good times or that slide into the back corner of our awareness, become very powerful.

Jerry needed help holding up the other end when he put up the shade on the deck.   That was a great distraction.  He is a talker too.  As soon as the sweat dries, I will begin running some errands.

…The errands included taking a death certificate to the bank.  All that needed to be done was get it into the records there.  I took back to her the tools that Occupational Therapist Karen had given Mary Ann and trained her to use, so that Karen could give them to other patients.  I stopped by the florist, Flowers by Bill, to thank him for doing such a wonderful job of arranging very fresh flowers that have lasted well.  He is the one who would provide much more than $10 worth of flowers when I came by to get them for Mary Ann.  I told him that I may be coming in on occasion to do the same, this time to enjoy myself and then remember.  I dropped glasses off at our eye doctor’s office for the Lion’s Club.  Looking at two of the four pairs was a frightening reminder of Mary Ann’s battle.  They were so scratched from falling on her face that the lenses were no longer usable.  We had had to replace them.

I guess I said it last night, but today it has been painfully clear that remembering her with so many abilities stolen from her is almost too much to bear.  When I think back to the challenges I had as a Caregiver, I can certainly remember the times I reached the limit of my ability to cope, but I remember with no feelings of distress. I don’t feel in any way sorry that I had to do the things that were required.  I would do it again without hesitation.  I have been trying to keep them out of my mind, the images of her sitting in that chair unable to do almost anything, trying to get up, falling, struggling to turn in bed, hating when I had to feed her.  My emotions are too raw to continue this train of thought.

The shade is now up on the back deck.  If the sun is out in the morning, the Spiritual Formation Group will get to try it out.  If rain comes, we can now sit inside the house in full view of the waterfall, listening to the rain on the speaker that brings in the outdoor sounds.  Since I am now alone here, there is no one to disturb.  Damn, I hate this!

Again, I am all right, given the circumstances.  It is very appropriate that I hate this and that my emotions are sometimes raw.  I would be in trouble if I didn’t recognize my feelings and allow them to see the light of day.  It is from that process that new life begins to emerge.  I also have moments of feeling the freedom that I have now that there are no longer the constant demands.  I am grateful that Mary Ann is whole again.  I would not want her back just so that I could feel better.  I just miss her.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 20, 2010

Quilty Jacket Makes Heart Hurt

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues, Sources of Strength, Therapeutic Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I realize that Quilty is not a word, but in our house it is.  I suppose it should be referred to as a quilted jacket.  We called it the Quilty Jacket.  She wore it as often as the weather would allow in the last few years.  Then there are her Poo pants — as in Winnie, not poop.  They are pajama bottoms so worn, with numerous holes that one good tug would probably pull them apart in any number of places.

When I pulled the jacket out of the closet, I knew I could not part with it.  I can’t count how many times I helped her on with that jacket as we headed out the door.  The rest of the clothing is in plastic bags destined for the thrift store or the Rescue Mission.  It has been a very emotional day, at least on the inside.  Once, I sighed loudly while standing in an almost empty closet and from the bedroom came, “Are you okay?”  This had to be hard on Daughter Lisa too.  I would not have wanted to do it without her.

The challenge was not just the emotional part of it but the challenge of deciding what to do with what.  As others who have been in my position will confirm, decisions are very difficult to make.  The simplest task can seem overwhelming.

There were dresser drawers to clean out.  We finally found her underwear!  The funeral home asked for undergarments with the dress we were to bring over for them as they prepared her.  In her sock and underclothes drawer, we finally found a pair that she had never worn nor would she have done so.  I vaguely remembered getting them out of that drawer and putting them away when she switched to disposables a couple of years ago.  She had a huge number of socks in the drawer, resulting in the need for room.  Her socks were a signature item.  There were varied colors and themes, holiday socks, seasonal socks, polka-dots, animals.  We found the underwear in a plastic bag hanging from a hanger buried in between other hanging clothing.

I knew it would be and it is very hard to look in that closet.  I have spread out the few things I have on both sides to create the illusion that it is full.  It is not working. Actually, I decided to get rid of all things in the closet that no longer fit or are too badly worn to wear any longer.  Getting rid of my clothes was easy.  All I had to do was look at the neck size on the shirts to determine that I could no longer wear them.  Who knew that a neck could grow in later years.  It is an odd genetic quirk, having nothing to do with eating habits and the lack of exercise.  The waists on pairs of pants had shrunk.  Closets shrink clothes.  It is a known fact.  It is sort of like Radon, only not dangerous to people — unless, of course, you try too hard to button one of the shirts and strangle yourself.

I suspect that Monday some time will be the first encounter with the house all to myself, the beginning of whatever will come in life next.  The Kids are doing exactly what is needed and when.  They cannot do for me what I need to do to make it through this.  I cannot do for them what they need to do to get through this.  We can love and support one another, doing what is in our power to do.

I will get out the quilty jacket and remember and, I suspect, do some crying.  Tears do not come easily to me, but it will be important to allow that release when the need comes.  I have decided to get the box of letters Mary Ann saved from forty-eight years ago.  I have not looked at them since I wrote them.  I am sure I will be embarrassed by them.  I was so much in love with her that, if I remember correctly, I even wrote sappy poetry on occasion.  I am surprised she didn’t run away screaming after reading them.

I made an observation to Lisa today contrasting the time of caring for Mary Ann, especially the last months, with the time we are in now.  Oddly, it seems harder to think now about what we went through than it was to go through it.  Even when we were in the thick of the worst of it, I just had to do stuff.  Doing things gave me the feeling that I could make a difference of some sort.  Even if what I did seemed to have little effect, at least I had something I could do.  Now, I have the images of what we went through.  They seem more horrifying when thinking about them than they seemed when I was doing them.  When I was doing stuff, it was certainly hard, sometimes very messy, but I was just doing whatever needed to be done.

Grieving is hard work, harder than caregiving.  There is nothing more I can do for her.  I can only be sad for myself that she is not here.  I certainly do not need to be sad for her now that she is free from the illness.  I can hurt for what she went through, but I cannot change it.  My job now is to figure out what I can do.  I can live the life that I am being given.  I can make plans and do things that will honor her memory, care for my family, and become the most fulfilled and healthy person I can be with God’s help and the resources available to me.  I have absolutely no idea what those plans will emerge and where they will take me.  Whatever they are, they will have to take into account a household income that was diminished by about 40% when I retired, and another 20% now.  With a little creativity and a willingness to live simply, the plans will emerge.

I continue to welcome suggestions for a new blog address that will reflect what my life is about as the next months and years unfold.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 16, 2010

It wasn’t her and I’m glad.

Posted by PeterT under Family, Help from Others, Meaningful Caregiving, Relationship Issues, Sources of Strength, Therapeutic Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I had my own little package of Kleenexes in my pocket; there were plenty around the room.  We didn’t need them.  They had done a nice job of fixing her up, but her face did not really look like her.  I was pleased.  We had all been there when she left, so the private viewing at the funeral home only confirmed that she was already gone.

We are not done with the tears — by no means is that part of this over.  The tears will come tomorrow when we gather to confront the impact of her loss and at the same time celebrate what in our Spiritual Tradition (Christian of the Lutheran variety) we believe to be a victory.  We understand death to be a real and painful loss for us and a profound victory over death.  The Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s Dementia have done their worst and lost the war.  We still have to work through all the grief that comes with such a loss, just not complicated by a sense of defeat and concern for the one who has died. My mantra has been, “She is fine. We are not.”

This afternoon, there was a time when all the rest of the family was away from the house when I walked in.  As far as I know, except for two or three times when I stopped by to pick something up while she was at her Tuesday Morning Bible Study, that is the first time in the last two years I have walked into the house without Mary Ann being here.  Actually, in the last eight or ten years, I don’t remember that happening for more than a moment to pick up something at the house while she was with someone else in another place. It struck me pretty powerfully.  It was not long before some of the family returned, but it was long enough to determine that I don’t like it.  Have I mentioned before that I don’t like this?

There is nothing anyone else can do about it.  The last thing I want is for people to try to insulate me from the reality of what is going on.  I need to experience it and get used to it.  Any who read this who happen to have lost someone and returned home to live in an empty house understand full well that we have to learn how to accept and come to terms with that new reality.

Tonight we spent over two hours greeting people who came by the funeral home to show their support for our family.  It was pretty much hugs all around.  There were many words of comfort.  There were many who offered to help in any way they could, inviting me to call or come by, threatening to pester me with their care.  They actually meant it.  I know these people.  They meant it.   For a while, I will need to hang back and get my bearings, but it is nice to know that to the degree I am willing to be assertive, I will not need to stay home alone unless I want to.  I like solitude, but I will need to find a balance between solitude and community to remain healthy.

I now know why when talking with people who have lost a spouse sometimes they get a catch in their throat when they talk about the last moments of their Loved One’s life if they were there — even if the death came years earlier.  Images of those last moments elicit great pangs of pain.  I doubt that the capacity to feel those pangs will leave very soon if ever.  I cherish those moments only to confirm for me that it is good that she let go, that she is no longer enduring the indignity of those last hours.  It frees me not to fight the acceptance, somehow wishing her back here.

We are all very tired now. It is time to try to get some rest.  I slept better last night — a very good thing.  Tomorrow will be a day to begin the healing in earnest.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 16, 2010

Shedding Signs of Parkinson’s Presence

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Hospice, Meaningful Caregiving, Relationship Issues, Therapeutic Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I just couldn’t stop and go to bed.  I needed, I NEEDED, to empty the bedroom of everything I could find that reminded me of what we have been through with the Parkinson’s .  Gratefully, the Hospice folks had taken all the medicine bottles and the items they brought that were of no further use to us now that Mary Ann is free of the damned disease.  It did its worst, and she still won.  She has let go of it so that it has no power over her any longer.  She has a life that is as free as a butterfly, a favorite image of hers, especially in the early years.

I am not about to let the Parkinson’s Disease and the Parkinson’s Disease Dementia (a Dementia with Lewy Bodies) remain the dominant feature of our lives any more.  Pretending it never happened would be silly and deny who we became as we faced it down and refused to let it steal from us meaning and joy and fulfillment.  With that said, I don’t have to allow it to come along any longer on my journey, just as she no longer has its company in her new life.

For both of us, we now are living life after Parkinson’s.  I stripped the bed and put on fresh bedding.  At this point, I don’t even remember all the things I threw away — nothing that needed to be kept any longer.  Finally, I went to bed.  It was a fitful sleep, up a couple of times, now for no good reason.  This morning beginning at about 4:30am, my mind started working.  Every time I thought of something that I needed to do, I got up headed down the hall to my office, wrote it down and came back to bed.  I did that four or five times between then and a little before 7am.

Today has included lots of tasks.  Throughout the day, I have been reading comments on this blog and on Facebook that have provided comfort and the recognition that we are not going through this alone.  We have welcomed more food and enjoyed eating part or most of much of it, while freezing for later what we cannot consume now.  There are some really fine cooks in our circle of support.  I was able to get a much needed freely given haircut from friend and former parishioner Doug this afternoon.  Marikay’s Volunteering with Mary Ann was doing her hair there at their shop.

Son Micah wrote the obituary for us this morning so that we could take it with us to meet with Pat the Funeral Director working with us.  As I mentioned in last night’s post we were treated more like friends than clients as we went through all the necessary steps.  Having made the arrangements in advance seven years ago, it was a relatively painless process.  It still took a couple of hours to go through all the paperwork that is required.  The web site with Mary Ann’s obituary is http://www.penwellgabeltopeka.com.  Enter Mary Ann Tremain in the search box and then when her name comes up, click on her name to see the obituary.  I think the link we provided on Facebook will take you right to it in one step. Having done the pre-need plan at the cemetery, that visit was only a few minutes.

We stopped at church for a while.  The Staff there was a sort of family for the over twelve years I served there.  They listened as I shared the daily struggles.  They provided a wonderful, nurturing community.  We dropped off what has turned out to be an elegantly done, indescribably beautiful book mark that will serve as a thank you to those who have volunteered in any way to help Mary Ann over the years.

The main reason for stopping at the church was to talk about the music with Young, the Director of Worship and the Organist.  She led us to the balcony and sat down at the console to play some of what she will use as processional and recessional music as well as a hymn prelude and accompaniment.  I have absolutely no defense mechanisms capable of deflecting the power of a full organ playing music that simply soars heavenward.  It is not sweet and gentle or somber and sad.  It is energizing and thrilling and victorious.  I simply melted.  Each time she stopped and asked if that was all right, I could only nod, yes.  I could not talk.  I am in real trouble as far as trying to keep my composure on Thursday is concerned.

Later in the afternoon, I was by myself with some time to fill between the cemetery trip and the haircut.  I stopped at Lowe’s to look for some much needed deck chairs and a hose caddy.  I wandered into Barnes and Noble just to spend time before going for the haircut.  I got scared, especially when I walked around Barnes and Noble.  Everything that has given me purpose for my lifetime up to now has ended.  I have completed a career, I am done living with and caring for Mary Ann.  She is even what I have written about, her care the content of the blog.  I got scared about what I will do when the funeral and memorial up north are over, the house is in order and the thank you cards written.  Will I be wandering about aimlessly, a pathetic old man with no where to go and nothing to do.  It just scared me for a moment.

With that said, I will be fine.  Very many other people who lose a spouse after retiring have exactly the same problem.  “What do I do now?”  Gratefully, there will be time to think about that later.  Right now, there is a lot that will be going on in the next couple of weeks.

When I returned home after the haircut, Son Micah had orchestrated the removal of some of the bigger items in the house because of the Parkinson’s. I had shared with him earlier my need to rid the place of all the signs that it was ever present.  They took up the protective mesh from the ceramic tile floor in the bathroom.  We put it down after Mary Ann did some real damage in a fall.  They took up the matting for the same purpose in the garage.  The rolling shower chair, the wheel chair in the car, the support handles around the toilet stools were all removed to the garage for the moment.

Yes, part of it is that I need time to forget the horrible sight of Mary Ann suffering so much at the end.  I need not to remain immersed in remembering and focusing on the caregiving tasks of the last decade.  I need to remember Mary Ann, the person, “a force to be reckoned with” someone said, and a wonderful, exciting life’s partner.  Yes, we have been shaped by responding to the challenge; we have grown.  At the same time, we are far more than the disease.  I want to remember the “more.”

Now that she is gone, I have nothing to write about.  While I try to decide whether to just stop writing, I will describe and reflect on what is going on during these first  transitional days.  I will write a post or two on the beginnings and development of our life together.  There is a huge hole filled with pain right now.  I need to remember, reconstruct the memory of that life, lift the fog of the Parkinson’s so that the wonder of it will reappear.  I expect what I write to be boring and self-serving, but that is just the way it is.  I started writing these posts each night to find the perspective I needed to survive, to make some sense out of something that makes no sense.  I hoped they would help anyone in similar circumstances who happened upon the blog.  I have been blown away by how many have become a part of our journey in the past couple of years and especially the past few weeks.

As little as I could predict about what we would encounter day by day as we fought the Parkinson’s and the Dementia, I know even less now about what will come next.  Mary Ann is experiencing a spectacular new beginning beyond our knowing.  I am also experiencing a new beginning.  As cliche as it is to say it, today actually is the first day in the rest of my life. So far I am not liking it very well, but given time, that will change.

Plans are now final.  The Mary Ann’s funeral will be at 11:30am on Thursday at the church with a visitation at the funeral home tomorrow evening from 6pm to 8pm.  She will lie in state there from 2pm on tomorrow.  We will have private family time with her at noon. She will lie in state at church an hour before the funeral.  There will be a meal afterward at church to which we hope as many as can attend will come.  On Friday we will have a very short inurnment service with mostly family at the graveside.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 14, 2010

Her Battle Is Over!

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Hospice, Meaningful Caregiving, Relationship Issues, Sources of Strength, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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We thought the end had come this morning when the bath aide and Daughter Lisa and I were working on her.  She made some awful sounds and her eyes opened wide and rolled back, then she stopped breathing.  After only seconds, she started breathing again.

Poor Bathe Aide Zandra left during that time to let us be with her.  I grabbed a Bible and tried to read a couple of Psalms.  Words and tears mixed, mostly tears.  In a few minutes Mary Ann stabilized to a steady heart beat and steady breathing.

Zandra had pointed out some of the telltale mottling on the bottoms of her feet.  That was at about 9:45am.  We called Hospice Nurse Emily who came out to put a dressing on one of the sores that had developed.  Her blood pressure was low, and the oxygen saturation percentage was lowering.  Gratefully, her lungs were still clear.  Mary Ann again made clear with some scary sounds that she was not happy with being moved.  Nurse Emily indicated the obvious, that it would probably be before the day was done, certainly by tomorrow that the end would come. Emily  was here late in the morning.

We kept close track of Mary Ann’s breathing, which remained pretty steady.  Then we saw that in just an hour or so, the mottling had moved from the bottoms of her feet all the way to her hips.  When we called Nurse Emily about how to determine when to use the Morphine, I told her about the mottling.  She said she would be over at 2pm, an hour from that call.

Emily talked with us for a while and shortly after she left, Mary Ann took what turned out to be her last breath.  We were all immediately at her side.  I had found one of the books I used in the ministry and put it nearby.  I read a beautifully written Commendation of the Dying liturgy.  She died during that couple of minutes.

It is hardly necessary to tell you what came next.  After I gained enough composure, I called Nurse Emily to record the time of death.  Nurse Lisa came first since she was closer.  Then Nurse Emily came and did the official recording of the time.  Nurse Emily and Nurse Lisa prepared Mary Ann for the funeral home to take her.  We had all the time we wanted before they came.

Daughter Lisa and Denis let their two little ones (5 and 7) come in to see Mary Ann. I have worked with families with children often in situations like this.  Letting children satisfy their curiosity and ask questions is very helpful.  It is better to treat things honestly without giving them more information than they want or need.  They need to hear that it is all right for their Parents and the Grandpa cry, and that their Grandma is okay even though she has died.  They need permission to be sad or silly or whatever they need to do.

Granddaughter Ashlyn (5) was mostly excited that she lost her very first baby tooth this afternoon.  She is counting on a very generous tooth fairy.

Son Micah and Becky came in next with eleven year old Granddaughter, Chloe.  This is her first Grandparent to die.  She just needed to do some crying and be nurtured by her Parents.  There were lots of hugs.

Denis took the girls to the park for a while so that they would not be there when the funeral home took Mary Ann out.  They had an appropriate experience without that.

We made all the phone calls we could think to make.  We checked to see if the Funeral could be at 11:30am on Thursday at the church (Faith Lutheran Church, 17th and Gage, Topeka, KS).  It appears that the day and time are acceptable to all parties.

There were more food deliveries today.  There have been emails and phone calls as the news has begun to spread.  At about 4:30pm Pat from Penwell Gabel Funeral home and a helper came to pick up Mary Ann.  I have done so many funerals with them in the dozen years before I retired that they are more friends than they are funeral home staff. Our appointment is set for 11am tomorrow.  We will take the dress and the pictures at that time.  Son Micah is working on a draft of the obituary.

Lisa and Micah have each been doing their grieving in ways that work for them.  There have been hugs and tears.  Each of them has a Spouse who provides them with love and support without limit.  Is is such a comfort to a Father to see that.

Pastor Mike came over and spent the next couple of hours with us, just talking about Mary Ann and our life together, as well as what might be in store for me.  It gave me a chance to talk, something I do especially when I am dealing with my feelings.  It is my mechanism for processing things.  It served as a way to keep at bay the sadness that is sitting in my gut.

I have to say that the sadness is much different from the pain of these last couple of weeks as I saw Mary Ann decline to a shadow of her former self.  The horribly painful knot in my stomach, feeling her pain, untied immediately after she died.  I want her back, but I could not tolerate seeing her in that condition any longer.  I find myself talking as if I am just fine, while just under the words are tears and sadness and a dull pain — a new one, different from before.

She no longer is in pain. That is the best news imaginable.  In my faith tradition there is no doubt that she has transitioned to a kind of joy and peace immersed in love beyond human comprehension. For those whose view of reality does not include a similar spirituality, the release from the pain and suffering of the last couple of weeks especially, is a great good.

My hope tonight is that I will share a bit in her peace by getting a good night’s sleep.  Whether or not I can sleep is another one of those things over which I have no control.  I am really getting tired of all the things over which I have no control!

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 13, 2010

Want It Straight or Sugar Coated?

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I have tried to write about our experience honestly.  To do so has required my revealing the harsh realities of painfully ordinary people.  I could try to create the illusion that we are a saintly household above all the weaknesses and failures and missteps that plague regular folks.  I could try, but this blog is not fiction.  It is too much work to make up stuff and keep it all straight.

I got up this morning after a night of watching her, feeling for her pulse, putting my hand on her chest to be sure she is breathing, getting up and putting my ear next to her mouth to be sure I could hear the breath going in and out.  I was tired and grumpy and angry.  Why does she have to be so stubborn?  Why can’t she just let go?  What a jerk I am to be angry at someone who has suffered so for so long and is now in the throes of dying!  I just can’t stand seeing her weak and vulnerable and in pain.  She would hate it!  She is a proud and strong-willed person, not about to be found to be weak.  I am not angry at her.  I am scared and sad and in pain with absolutely no one to blame.

I suppose I could waste a lot of time and energy being angry at God, but pain and suffering are not God’s idea.  God often gets the blame for the bad stuff (usually perpetrated by people doing the opposite of what He has asked us to do).  God more rarely gets credit for bothering to give us the breath of life and everything we just assume is our right, belongs to us.  I can’t waste my limited stamina being angry with the only One who can actually help both Mary Ann and me as we pass through this transition in our lives.

I wish I could cry, but I think the tears are waiting until this is over.  Every day seems like an entire lifetime.  This morning I was grumpy and angry.  I went to the computer to find that one of the other two in our online Lewy Body Dementia Spouses group at the same stage we are in lost her husband finally this morning.  Here is what I wrote to her:

Doris,
My thoughts are with you.  We are still in that time that has extended beyond the fear of the end to a longing for it to be over.  Rest now from your and Philip’s winding, uphill, exhausting and exciting journey to this point.  I wish you well as you take the best of what Philip has brought into your life, discover who you will become now that he is not with you here, and find joy and fulfillment when finally the pain finds a quiet place to remain as your own adventure continues.
Peter

Somehow reflecting on her loss, helped me regain a bit of perspective.  My anger and grumpiness are just a function of feeling utterly helpless, struggling to accept something I don’t want to accept, already missing horribly someone who has been in the center of my life for decades.  Yes, we could irritate the Hell out of each other sometimes, but that is precisely because we matter so much to each other.

The lifetime lived today included treating sores (none open yet), inserting Tylenol suppositories, cleaning and turning bones stretched with bruised skin over them, administering Morphine before the three times of turning to lessen the pain revealed by her grimacing as we worked on her.

The lifetime lived today included good friend and former co-worker Jim and Joanna, hugs and conversation and prayer.  A full, hot meal appeared at the door, delivered by Shari, member of our little Spiritual Formation group that meets for a couple of hours weekly.  Good Buddy Jimmy came by bearing a gift and concern for us.

Today’s lifetime included moments with Granddaughter Chloe, lots of words and acts of support for one another between Daughter Lisa, Son Micah, Daughter-in-Law Becky.  Today included the return of Son-in-Law Denis and Granddaughters, Abigail (who now wants to be called Abby) and Ashlyn, both full of energy and grateful to be in Mom’s arms again after being gone so long.

In today’s lifetime our downstairs bedroom and family room have become a campground.  It is very good that our small town home has three full bathrooms now that we have finished the downstairs and many people in it.

During this lifetime, the one lived today, fatigue has been a constant presence.  The consensus was that it would be good for me to go into the bedroom with Mary Ann, shut the door and just rest. Grumpy Grandpa is not their favorite family member.  I did so at least three times in this lifetime, today.  It helped.  Nothing can remove the tired with which I woke up, but it helped.

Lifetimes include sunshine and storms.  Today began with rumbling thunder, and moments ago the power went off for a moment, turning off the computer and the oxygen machine.  Needless to say, both are working again.

This day’s lifetime will now continue into the night.  At least intellectually, I have determined that it is not necessary for us to be awake and with Mary Ann at the moment of her death.  We love her and she knows it.  We have cared for her and doted on her for days.  Micah asked Lisa how long she has been here.  It has been eleven days that this watch has been going on.  It actually started two days earlier. We would love to have the privilege of surrounding her at that moment.  It is, however, not necessary for me to try to stay awake all night checking her breathing.  While I know that intellectually, we will see if knowing that has even a shred of influence on my insides and my actions.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 12, 2010

Family, Food and Flowers

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Hospice, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Sources of Strength | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The Family has hunkered down now.  Daughter Lisa from Kentucky will stay for the duration with Denis and the girls coming when the time is right.  Son, Micah, Daughter-in-Law, Becky, and Granddaughter from an hour away (the Kansas City area), are now also camping out in the downstairs tonight.  We need to be close to one another and close to Mary Ann.

Of course we cannot know when Mary Ann will let go and head off for the next leg of her journey, or more appropriately said, the destination.  Her breathing is very shallow.  Last night I got up three or four times and went over to touch her chest to determine if she was still breathing.  We want her to stay longer and at the same time to just quietly breathe her last breath without distress.

Her condition seems fragile.  It is getting harder to find a position that does not put her weight on one of the red spots that have been threatening to transition into bed sores.  Hospice Aide Sonya came and managed to give her a bed bath, wash and blow dry her hair.  She was, of course, completely unresponsive during that activity.  Her fever was not very high this morning, but enough to warrant giving her a Tylenol suppository.  This evening her temperature seemed to the touch to be back to normal, so we did not give her the Tylenol.  We have only given her two of the lowest recommended doses of Morphine, since she has seemed comfortable most of the time today.

While there still appears to be none of the expected mottling of the skin, she seems fragile enough to die at any time.  It is getting harder to compartmentalize my thinking and feeling.  The kids seem to share that problem.  We go about our business as if we are accomplishing something, doing various tasks, talking with folks on the phone and those who came by today.  Then we walk into that room and look at the person we love and can’t bear the thought of losing from our lives here on earth, and the pain wells up, ready to break open.  It is hard to maintain the boundaries between the compartments in our lives.  When I am doing other things, outside that room, thoughts of doing whatever it is with her gone from here breach the boundary between the compartments.

There have been moments when pleasing gestures and gifts have lifted our spirits.  Last evening, Neighbor Harlene brought over food to us, so that we would have dinner tonight.  We already started on the chocolate chip cookies last night.  Later today, Janet and Joe, former parishioners, brought over some supper.  Both meals could be prepared with portions for tonight and tomorrow and portions to go in the freezer for later times.  I will appreciate having nourishment readily available after things settle.

Pr. Jim came by to spend some time.  I shared thoughts about funeral plans and he was very willing to help us have a service meaningful to us as well as any who gather with us.  We have the chance of having two wonderful vocalists sing at the service Carol and Kristen.  Carol has been a part of the congregation for many years, directing the choir for a large portion of those years, singing solos often.  Kristen (Carol’s voice student for many years) is based in Boston (has sung with the Boston Pops), sings professionally, and has as wonderful a soprano voice as I have ever heard.  Those plans are still in the works.  We will see what finally is possible.  We will talk with the Director of Worship about hymns and special music. In our tradition we are free to use joyful music rather than dirges at funerals.  We leave with a sense of victory rather than defeat.

Sister Gayle, Niece Diana and Friend Joy have agreed to team up to handle the logistics of a memorial gathering in Northern Illinois for all those who would not be able to travel here for the service.  The plan is that it will include food, memory sharing and a short worship service in an informal setting.

Then, at one point today, the doorbell rang and there was delivered a small vase of flowers, yellow roses, yellow alsternaria and white daisy mums.  Both Mary Ann and I enjoy having cut flowers in the house. We just love flowers outside or inside.  That vase of flowers perked our spirits.  Gretchen, who sent them, was in the first Confirmation class when I arrived in 1996 at the church from which I retired as Sr. Pastor two years ago.  She is soon to complete her thesis as Dr. Gretchen.

A foam wedge was delivered this afternoon to help keep Mary Ann in a position that avoids putting more pressure on the red spots that are threatening to provide serious discomfort.  We are putting Tegaderm patches on the red spots.  They are an almost transparent thin plastic patch that has just enough cushioning to give the skin a chance to heal when red spots appear.  If any of the spots transition to open sores, the Hospice Nurse will come and put a dressing on them.

I have taken a number of breaks from writing to go in and check on Mary Ann’s breathing.  I have thought about what it feels like to be in this time that some readers of this post have called sacred.  Pr. Jim noted a sense of peace when he has visited.  It is a time of very complex dynamics.  There is hardly a more sacred time than the last moments of life.  Death certainly is what helps define life. Someone observed that there is absolutely no difference in the amount of matter, the weight, the chemical composition of a body before and immediately after death.  There is one difference.  Life is gone.  Life does not have material substance, but look at the difference it makes.

These moments of transition certainly are sacred.  There is peace.  There is pain. The one does not diminish the other. Is it peaceful pain or painful peace.  At any rate, they are folded together into one sacred time in our lives, Mary Ann’s, the Kids and Grandkids, and mine.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 9, 2010

Do you know how much I love you? “Yeah.”

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Hospice, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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She mouthed the answer, “Yeah,” but she may as well have shouted it from the rooftops.  I responded, “Thank for the best gift you could ever have given me.”  She has not moved her mouth in response to anyone or anything in about a day and a half.

Her eyes have been closed most of the time.  One eye has opened on occasion, but with little evidence there was much consciousness behind it.  When I came in to be with her for a bit this time, both eyes were open.  I wasn’t absolutely sure she actually seeing me until she mouthed her response.

Her fever is stable at the moment, only a degree and a half above normal.  It has been at that level all afternoon and evening.  We will still use a Tylenol Suppository tonight to try to keep it from rising by morning.

Today was a typically busy Wednesday, in spite of what is going on here.  The Spiritual Formation group met on the deck.  I realized again just how important that two hours weekly is for helping me keep my perspective and my spiritual focus.

During that time Volunteer Elaine came and read to Mary Ann.  Shortly before the end of the group meeting, Bath Aide Zandra came.  We figured out that she had been coming to see Mary Ann twice a week for almost eight years.  No wonder she has shed some tears.  Zandra did a thorough job on Mary Ann’s bed bath, hair washing, as well as changing the bed with Mary Ann in it.  It was good that Lisa came in since she is experienced and could lend a hand.

Hospice Social Worker Kristin came by for a while.  It was helpful to have her knowledge and experience available as we talked through what is going on here.  She confirmed what I already knew, that when death comes, the Hospice Nurse will make the necessary phone calls to get all the basic tasks accomplished so that the family can focus on their notification calls.

Landscaper Sheila came by to work on the garden and waterfall, doing clean up, adding a couple of things needed.  As a gift, she put some Petunias in a huge pot on the ground at the edge of the deck.

Marilyn, a member of the Lead Staff at the church from which I retired, stopped by to spend a few minutes with Mary Ann and some time with the rest of us.  She shared a reading and prayer with us, providing some words of reassurance about the Lord’s presence with us no matter how stormy our life may be at the moment.

Pastor Mike, who will preach at Mary Ann’s funeral (why doesn’t that get any easier to say), stopped by to spend a few moments with Mary Ann, and share some time with us.  We reminisced a while since our history together goes back to 1972.  He listened to stories about Mary Ann.

Then friend Jeanne came by to spend a little time with Mary Ann.  It was a difficult time for her.  Pastor Mike was still there, so we talked together about how hard it is to handle what is going on here.

I have to say, we started out with the refrain that we don’t like this, and as time goes by we are not liking it more and more.  That is an awkward way of saying it, but you catch my drift.  It is more and more painful to go into the bedroom and look at her pretty face, immobile and helpless — at the very same time it is more and more painful to be outside of the room and not with her.

I am glad to be able to feel that pain.  I don’t want it, but it is reassuring evidence that I am still alive and still care and not in denial.  It has always struck me that when someone has a paralyzed limb, one way to check whether or not it is healing is to stick a pin in it.  If the owner of that limb jumps in pain, the arm or leg is alive — healed.

Those who have been where we are, but for a much longer time, have often commented that after a while, they just can’t feel anything any more.  They go numb.  Good news brings little joy; bad news brings little pain.  They have to insulate themselves from their own feelings.  The ups and downs have worn them down.

We are still able to feel the pain.  I can assure you it is more than a pin prick.  Because we can still feel the pain, we still get to feel the love.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 8, 2010

“Probably not today, but I could be wrong.”

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Hospice, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues, Sources of Strength | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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I called the Hospice Nurse when I saw Mary Ann shivering at bedtime last night.  She suggested I take her temperature, and if it was over 100 degrees, she told me to give her some Tylenol (rectally, since she can’t take oral meds any more).  Her temperature was below that.  I covered her to help with the chills and eventually they subsided.

When I got up this morning, the first thing I did was take her temperature.  When taken under the arm it is necessary to add a degree to get the actual internal temperature.  It measured 102.8 plus the added degree, 103.8.  I gave her the Tylenol and phoned the Hospice Nurse.

When Hospice Nurse Emily came over, she checked Mary Ann’s vital signs.  The fever was a little lower than earlier this morning, but not much.  Mary Ann’s blood pressure was fine, her oxygen level was fine (she is receiving oxygen), her lungs were clear, her heart rate was up some.

Nurse Emily said that her heart is beginning to work harder.  The fever is often a part of the process.  Mary Ann clearly has begun actively dying.  Emily said it this way, “Probably not today, but I could be wrong.”  She added later in the day that she expects Mary Ann to be gone by Friday based on her assessment of her condition.

Those words were very difficult to hear.  Lisa, Micah and I keep telling each other how much we just don’t like this.  It is, of course, a good thing for Mary Ann to move to the next leg of her journey, free of all the problems she has endured here.  With that said, we still don’t like it.

The good news is that Mary Ann continues to appear very comfortable.  The fever has edged down a bit.  Mary Ann is not particularly pleased when we jostle her around and poke things in her bottom, but that is just part of it.  Other than those times, she rests peacefully.  Her breathing is not labored.  Her heart rate continues to increase.  Her normal is about 60.  When Emily checked it this morning it had risen a little over 80.  The last time I took her pulse this evening it was about 100.

We have spent the day talking about the funeral, whom to call, what to do back in Northern Illinois where we both grew up and still have family and friends.  The words come out of my mouth as if we are just making funeral plans for someone.  My gut is doing flips while wearing cement overshoes.  (I have no idea what that means other than that it hurts like Hell.)

I have had to finally start thinking about the afterlife.  Hers will be great.  Mine, not so much.  I started making a list of things that I will need to do.  Discontinue Lifeline, let the Bath Aide know not to come — very many more things like that.  What will we do with Mary Ann’s clothes (I can hardly stand writing this) and when.

As I am writing this I am trying to move inches along the path of coming to terms with what is happening.  This morning, long time friend, John from KC, called and offered support.  Later today, Volunteer Coordinator Mary and Parish Nurse Margaret stopped by, brought cookies and spent a little time with Mary Ann.  She, of course, does not respond at all any more, but it is very likely that she hears what is being said to her.

Son-in-Law Denis and the girls headed back to Kentucky.  Lisa has stayed for a few more days, depending, of course, on what happens when.  Micah, Becky and Chloe spent the afternoon and evening here.

We are in a time warp.  There is no sense of what this day is in relationship to other days.  Minutes seem like hours.  Days seem like an eternity — but not long enough to be with Mary Ann.  Sometimes we wander around the house.  Sometimes we eat.  Sometimes we talk.  Sometimes we sit.

We now have all the elements of the Comfort Kit that Hospice talks about.  We have Morphine if there is respiratory distress or severe pain.  There is none so far, other than the heart pain that subsided with the oxygen and one tiny dose of the Morphine.  We have Tylenol tablets for the fever and will receive Tylenol suppositories tomorrow from Hospice.  We have Ativan tablets and will receive Ativan suppositories tomorrow.  Ativan will be used if and when the agitation hits that often comes and the dying process moves along.

I just glanced at the last few posts on this blog.  I can’t believe how fast things are moving.  There are some things that are helping us as we move through this time in all our lives.  I have probably said them before, but I just can’t remember at the moment.  One thing that helps is that there is not so much as a hint of wondering about Mary Ann’s secure connection to a wonderful future.  We don’t have the tools to form a picture of it, but we have no need to do so.  Our faith life as a family allows us to relax and accept the gift of a future given freely by a Loving God.  There is no time that we need to spend with any distress about her future.

We have a strong family with no baggage, no unfinished business to complicate the process of letting go.  We accept that we are not perfect.  I have not given Mary Ann perfect care, but there is a forgiving Lord who frees me from that guilt.  Mary Ann has an estranged Brother, whom I have promised to tell that she forgives him.  The result of all that is that we have the privilege of feeling the pain and sadness, celebrating her impending freedom, all with a peace that winds through our grief.  There will be tears, sometimes uncontrollable, but no despair. We don’t have to like it, but will will live through it, hopefully stronger than before, more compassionate, free to live meaningfully no matter what comes next.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

June 6, 2010

Denial and Funeral Planning Don’t Mix Well

Posted by PeterT under Daily Challenges, Family, Help from Others, Meaningful Caregiving, Practical Tools for Coping, Relationship Issues, Sources of Strength, Therapeutic Activities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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What will she wear, what songs will be sung, what passages read.  We talked about some of those things years ago when we filled out forms for a Pre-need plan at the local funeral home.  The major decisions are already made.

I have to admit that it is painful even to talk about such things.  It was fine to do so many years ago — not now.  I am refusing to allow it to sink in and touch my gut.  The pain is there, but it is an aching now.  I have tasted it enough to know that the pain will sharpen and overwhelm when it breaks open.  Certainly I will survive as have tens of millions before me.

Friends Mike and Judy came over to spend time with us today.  As always it was a good and meaningful time.  Mary Ann connected with their presence and appreciated it.  Since Mike is the Pastor who will preach at the funeral when it comes, we needed to talk some about that.

Later, Pastor Jim, who followed me as Senior Pastor of the congregation I served for a dozen years, came over to celebrate Holy Communion with us.  There were enough of us to feel like a congregation.  Pastor Jim provided a meaningful ministry through a service of Scripture, prayer and song.  With three Pastors, two Spouses of Pastors and one Daughter of a Pastor, we surprised Jim by knowing the words to the songs (multiple stanzas) by heart.  He didn’t have to sing solo.  We were a choir.

One of the songs we sang is “Beautiful Savior.”  Both Mary Ann and I grew up in the same congregation in Aurora, Illinois.  Every Sunday worship through all the years we were growing up ended with “Beautiful Savior.”  As we gathered around Mary Ann’s bed and worshiped, sang and shared the bread and wine of Holy Communion, there was a peace about what is happening.  Mary Ann was a part of it even if she was not able to sing out loud with us.

With that said, as Son Micah commented later when he arrived, “this is hard.”  It hurts.  It just hurts.

Mary Ann seemed to have a comfortable day.  Last night, I was up a few times to listen for her breathing.  I tried to move her a little to minimize the pressure sore problem.  This morning when Lisa and I changed her, she did not show much evidence of the first stage of pressure sores — just one red spot on her ankle.  It was a relief to me that she seemed to fare well last night.  She does not move at all other than a foot moving a bit once in a while.  That is a formula for bedsores.

One happy surprise was that while Lisa and I were rolling Mary Ann this way and that to change her and check her, it just caught our funny bone.  We started laughing and so did Mary Ann.  It was not audible, but had it been, it would have been a belly laugh.

Lisa headed off for church and a local Art Fair.  I read a bit, then started a new book, titled Broken Open, by Elizabeth Lesser.  It is subtitled “How difficult Times Can Help Us Grow.”  How is that for timely.  It was recommended by the online Lewy Body Dementia Spouses group.

I decided to move into the bedroom to read, just so that I could be with Mary Ann.  It was a pleasant experience.  She seemed comfortable.  I asked how she was doing and she responded audibly that she was okay.  We just had some quiet interaction.  I gave her some water.   I realized just how wonderful it is to be able to spend this time in our lives together at home.

Later in the day, Son-in-Law Denis, arrived to provide Lisa with support and help with the girls.  Denis and the girls will be going back to Louisville on Tuesday.  Son, Micah and Granddaughter Chloe arrived at about the same time as Denis.  This was around the time Mike, Judy and Pastor Jim left.

Lisa and I changed Mary Ann again, examined her for red spots and turned her.  It was disappointing to see some red areas, indicating the potential of pressure sores beginning.  I plan to phone the Hospice Nurse tomorrow about the possibility of a hospital bed with the self adjusting air mattress on it to help avoid the worsening of those spots.

One annoying element in the day was the waterfall simply stopping.  It just stopped.  No one did anything to it.  It just stopped.  I was able to get hold of Brad (through his wife since they were driving) who promised to come after his work tomorrow afternoon to work on it.  Brad installed the pondless waterfall.  I certainly realize just how important a role that addition to our home is now that it is not working.  We built the sun room so that we could see the waterfall!

While Mary Ann is, of course, very vulnerable, and anything could happen at any time, she still seems fairly strong.   She ate a small dish of ice cream this afternoon while lying in bed. The Orthostatic hypotension has been so bad that it is pretty much impossible to sit her up for more that a moment.  Her blood pressure drops and so does she.

We continue to take things as they come, grateful for what we have, hoping for a peaceful release when the time comes.

If you want to write a comment about this or any of the posts on this blog, look to the column on the right side of this page, titled “Recent Posts,”  click on the name of a post and you will find a box at the end of that article in which you can write a comment.  Clicking on the title of the post you are reading will accomplish the same thing.  Comments are appreciated.

 

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