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Pastimes : Where the GIT's are going -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (143291)	5/13/2007 8:40:54 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 225578

John, Thank you for your kind thoughts. You may or may not remember, but about four years ago, when it was becoming obvious to me that my mother was going to need a substantial amount of day-to-day care, we exchanged some private messages. You gave me some details about your personal situation and left me with the thought: Glenn good luck with your mother.. you will get great self satisfaction... Truer words were never spoken. Caring for my mother, and my father before that, may be the two most positive experiences of my life. I was fortunate that I was able to keep her in her own home (with Harris, her dog) until the end. Even though she had middle stage Alzheimer’s, and had periods of agitation, I enjoyed the time that I spent with her. It amazed me that she remembered her Bible verses and hymns. Her faith was very important to her, and the example of her life has helped me to invigorate my faith. Over the last two years, my mother took great pleasure in simple things. Gemi, her 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. caregiver, would bring flowers and ice cream bars for her every Saturday night. She would be so happy you would have thought she was going on a first date. Each ice cream bar was “the best ice cream I ever ate.” Before she went to sleep, she would tell Gemi, “I love you.” My life is richer for these experiences. My mother was never actually confined to bed. While she needed help walking, she had enough mobility to get up and fall down. She needed someone with her around the clock. I had two wonderful caregivers covering 105 hours each week. I covered the other 63. I was getting up at 3:45 a.m. each day during the week in order to catch the 4:52 a.m. train downtown. My workday ended at 3:00 p.m. because my care giving responsibilities began at 5:00 p.m. To reduce my mother's anxiety and make my life a bit easier, I moved in with her about a year ago. 99% of my personal belongings are still in storage. I went to see the White Sox last night. It was the first time in two years that I was able to schedule an evening out without a lot of juggling and the sense of anxiety. I felt guilty. Blessed are the caregivers. While my mother was in the hospital, her doctor arranged for her to have a full-time sitter, even though a family member was with her almost full-time. Last Saturday evening, at a point where we (and the sitter) knew that my mother would probably not survive until the morning, the sitter, Nikki, a young nursing student from Jamaica, removed my mother’s socks, gently bathed her feet, and applied some lotion. By that time I was so numb that the enormity of that simple act of kindness did not immediately register with me. The vision of Nikki bathing my mother’s feet will stay with me forever. Good luck with your situation. My prayers will be with you. Regards, Glenn One of the negatives of the last two years is that I put a lot of personal relationships on hold and became a recluse. Oddly enough, that behavior extended to SI. I owe a number of people here (most notably Rudi and Dave) responses to PMs that were sent to me as long as a year ago.