elder care

IT IS APPOINTED

/ joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

Hebrews 9:27 states, ” it is appointed for men to die once.”

My dear friend and ward Grace passed from this life into eternity last night. I had just visited her in the morning. She was tired and a bit confused but we had a nice visit before she went off for a midmorning nap.

Is this grief I feel? It is not sadness really. I find it hard to be sad for her. I know where she is now and I know she has entered into a new life, an eternal life, which she had lived all of this life waiting for.

I feel an empty space in my heart where a connection once dwelt. It is a connection I had for nearly forty years. It is a connection I know I will have again when I make my own journey to where she is. But it is a connection that for now is severed. If that is a sense of grief, then I guess I am grieving. It is: A divine sense of emptiness; A reminder that God is brining us into a spacious place if we follow where He leads; Not sadness just an empty sort of hope and joy.

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I wonder, what angel came to take Grace home? What was her first glimpse of Heaven beyond the veil of Earth? What is she feeling now in her new body in her opened mind? I doubt she is living with any sense of emptiness at all.

Isaiah 51:11 KJV

Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

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WEAK DAY ON THE WEEKEND

/ joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

Recently, Mom has been experiencing a new level of muscle weakness particularly in her legs. Some days she is good and then others she can barely walk. When these “spells” come on her she also gets very tired and achy throughout her body.

Her most recent bout with whatever this is came yesterday. She didn’t have the strength to make it to the bathroom on her own. Fortunately we have a kamode she can use in her room. Even with that I had to help her to stand up.

It seems to pass after a time and today she is moving much better and is feeling stronger. Her shoulders and back ache, though, and she has taken Motrin and muscle rub. She did have bloodwork on Friday so I am hoping that givers us some answers.

HOSPICE FOR GRACE

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

The week has been eventful as far as it concerns elder care. The snow storm was a huge challenge for mother. She hasn’t quite recovered her sleep schedule yet or her best grace. This morning she told my son that when he comes to live here she is going to make him live in tent on the side of the house and she will make sure he had an outhouse to use.

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Yesterday I got a call from Sullivan County Health Care, where my ward Grace lives. Her appetite has been very poor for some time, but since the storm she has eaten almost nothing and she is drinking very little as well.

It is now to the point where hospice has been suggested. This next turn of the wheel has finally come.

I got the call from the visiting nurses out of White River Junction last night, and set up the appointment to sign paperwork for 9:30 this morning.

I am so thankful for the support network I have to help with mother. Amanda is away at a family life conference in Shrewsbury MA today, so my daughter Melanie came to sit with mom for the four hours I would be gone this morning.

I was driving the road along the Ashuelot River by 8 A.M. By 9:30 I was pulling into the driveway at Sullivan County Health Care.

The nursing home is under major reconstruction. The new stucture is going to be absolutely beautiful.

As I walked through the hallways, filled with temporary storage containers for the current construction work my heart felt such sadness. Grace will probably not be here to see the finished work on her current home.

During this visit, though, there were lots of wins to celebrate. I got to introduce the hospice nurse, Jen, to Grace personally and we both had a nice visit with Grace before Jen and I had to step aside to sign paperwork. Grace was having a good morning. She has lost quite a bit of weight now, but she was in good spirits, and pain free.

One of the things I am most glad about is that Grace will now have a weekly visit with a chaplain. She has really missed the in person spiritual direction and Scripture reading. I will also have a weekly check in from the chaplain to let me know how things are going on the spiritual- emotional front.

HAVE YOU OR A LOVED ONE EVER BEEN UNDER A CHAPLAIN’S CARE?