An Update on Mom

In case you haven't heard we brought my mother to the hospital in an ambulance unable to breathe. It turns out that she has congestive heart failure with water in her lungs - and after the blood work was processed discovered she has a staph infection on top of that.

Before this happened, after a difficult week in the hospital she rallied and got to go to her sister's 90th birthday party where she got to see most of her relatives and visit with them at length. Her recovery was amazing. Immediately after the party it hit in earnest and that was when she had to go back to the hospital. God gave her that little gift, and time to say goodbye. We just didn't know at the time that was what it was.

It has been necessary to transfer her to the BSA Hospice and after a couple of weeks of extreme pain she is now comfortable and pain free.

They had an Alan Jackson gospel tape playing and Saundra and I sang harmony to it for the whole CD to help her relax until the medicine took effect. She has always liked to hear us sing.

We had a long meeting with Saundra and I and the grandkids and came to the conclusion that buying her a limited number of months (she's 96) at the cost of an indefinite period of agony was not what she deserved. It was not a difficult decision to make, but it was a difficult decision to accept. It was better after we made it but of course we are not at all ready to see her go.

But what is important is the fact that she is pain free now. When she finally relaxed we were amazed to see the wrinkles disappear from her face. One of the nurses said she had her "angel makeup" on. The people that care for her here are loving and tender and very respectful. As soon as they began to minister to her we knew we had made the right decision.

There have literally been hundreds of emails and facebook messages. I can't answer all of them, of course, but your prayers and expressions of concern mean a lot to us.

Needless to say we are here 24/7 so if you are waiting on me for something I apologize and I do try to do what I can in small snatches of time here but I know I am getting behind. My clients are being wonderful about it and my five assistants are helping take up the slack but still I know it is going to continue to be a problem until we get her over the hump.

Thank you for your patience . . . and we do covet your prayers.


Terry