November 1, 2019

Heavens to Betsy.  2019 is 5/6 gone.  In the history books.  Of course the history books will not include all the details.  Not even all the significant events.  And in time the events will might be adjusted to accommodate whatever viewpoint someone is wanting to push.  Texas school books were proposed to use the language of 'trading triangle' instead of slave trade.  And it was not the PC police proposing that change either.  It was some of the members of the Texas State Board of Education.  Yes, ma'ams and sirs, when you live in Texas you just don't have to make this stuff up.  Texas is one of the largest purchasers of school books in the US.  So where crazed politicians take us is where education can go awry.

So much for that tangent.

Facebook posts from friends in Missouri are making me long to see the beautiful leaves.  The posts inspired me to drag out the fall decorations.  Those decorations include preserved colored leaves.  While in years past there was a full tub of fall and Halloween decorations it now only contains one tiny witch.  Seeing the colorful leaves along with some of the other familiar gourds, pumpkins, backets and scarecrows sure helped.  Of course the much cooler temperatures made a difference, too.  It was below freezing here last night.  So weird since we had some of the hottest daily records most of September and early October.

Braxon has progressed enough to be transferred home.  He has an NG tube for taking the required medications.  Not sure how long it will stay in as he already pulled it out once.  He fight oral medications, too.  Little Toot.

Hubby is doing his usual fall sneezing.  Not as bad as he once was.  His eyes are not swelling almost shut as they have in the past.  He is having to get up in the night to clear his sinuses.  Just ask him if he had taken any allergy meds.  Give you a guess as to what his answer was.  I told him no sympathy if he is not going to take his meds.  Bad as Braxon.  Is this a male thing?

So much for that tangent.

Tonight we will go to dinner to celebrate Bonus Grandson's 16th birthday.  Well, just got a text he is sick at school.  Grandpa is on the way to retrieve him.  Plans change on a dime around here.  BG has had the appendix issues that eventually required surgery.  The damaged knee issue with surgery scheduled in three weeks.  Now will this be stomach flu?  Poor guy.  His knee injury has not allowed him to get his drivers license which is the much bigger trauma for a 16 year old guy.

And here is one last tangent:

Cell phones and texting are wonderful ways to coordinate between people.  As long as you have cell service.

Put part of the Halloween candy in the freezer for later.

Ya'll all have a nice weekend. 

Janice

Closing Day T - 0

It is Halloween and closing day on our house.  I do not even want to go into all the details of this excruciating day.  We awoke around 6:45 to the news that Gene's 99 years old mom was in the hospital.  We still had stuff to get out of the house we were closing on at 10:00 AM.

To sum up this final day of count down is to say God has a plan for all our lives.  We have plans for our lives.  Some days the plans are not in sync.  This was one of those days.  The closing on the house was completed.  By the grace of the buyers we were given additional time to finish packing up the few items left at the house.  Wonderful friends, neighbors and cousins helped accomplish the tasks at hand.

Our evening and night are spent in the hospital with Gene's Mom.  Gene and by telephone with his brother make the excruciating decision to take no further steps to prolong their mother's life.  At 3 in the afternoon she was moved to a palliative care routine.  This simply means letting nature take its course while keeping the person as comfortable as possible.  The mission on keeping the patient comfortable with no visible signs of pain like frowning and groaning was accomplished.

Earlier on the Halloween day Edna said to Gene that he was her oldest boy.  She did not know his name.  She asked where Dad was.  Dad is how she referred to Gene's father.  Gene asked if she wanted to find Dad and she smiled yes.  Then watch for him was the gist of Gene's response.  Later in the day Gene leaned over to speak to Mom.  She raised her arm over his back and began to caress her baby boy and he caressed her.  This lasted for several minutes.  Edna was mouthing inaudible words.  Lip movements resembled I love you and bye.  But we were not positive.

Last embrace

On Thursday morning Edna was initially brought into the emergency room.  From there she was transferred to the the 3rd floor surgical wing.  The staff did not expect her to last through the day.  But she was still with us a 6 AM on Nov. 1.  And the sunrise was beautiful.

Sunrise viewed from Edna's 3rd floor room

By 7 AM the staff was told to move Edna to the hospice floor of the hospital for the remainder of her time which could be days. The hospice unit was located on the 7th floor.  The area on the 7th floor through which we would travel with Edna in the bed was the area where Gene's Dad had passed away in 2005.

The little caravan of two nurses, Gene, me and Edna in the hospital bed twisted through the maze of halls.  We joked about leaving crumbs so we would not get lost.  We arrived at the new room and the transition of responsibilities between nursing staff began.  I snapped a couple of pictures out the window.

As I turned back to the bed I noted to the nurses, "She is not breathing."  The bed was hastily rolled into place.  The nurse retrieved a stethoscope and checked for sounds.  She then said something like we are sorry for your loss.  Edna had lasted until 8:31 AM on All Saints Day, Nov. 1.  She was 99 years 13 days old.

I turned to Gene and said, "Dad was waiting on her up here and they are together again."  He agreed and we collapsed in each other arms in sobs.  We believe with all our hearts that Dad and Mom found each other that morning.  God surrounds us with angels both visible and invisible.  Each is reaching out to help those they are sent to care for along the way.  May we each recognize the angels in our lives.  Be they friends, family, health professionals or even grumpy folks that are in a hurry.  Each could be sent to give us just what is needed.

And when I started the T - countdown I guess God already knew that to which I was really counting without my knowing.