Carra If you guys wonder why I have fallen silent for a couple of days, it is because my 94 year-old mother Carra (pronounced CARE-u) just passed away.
She was a great woman who grew up through the Great Depression and became a nurse. She lived through WWII and married my father, a WWII veteran. She was a traditional scrub nurse, a public health nurse, an epidemiology research nurse, and finally a school nurse.
She died peacefully in her own bed this Friday morning.
I owe her a great deal. Some day, after my head has cleared a bit, I will write a blog entry describing her life and my experience with her.
--- Account closed permanently. I won't stand for abuse of authority by forum administration to censor criticism of a conservative radio host that celebrated the death of AIDS patients on his show. Maybe some day we'll speak again elsewhere.
Re: Carra The ironic thing is that it does not feel like a loss. It feels like victory.
My mother has been on her way out for quite some time. She could barely get around using a walker and started questioning her "usefulness" and the quality of her life.
She was on oxygen at almost 5 L/min, which is about the maximum level. When I found her, she had pulled off her oxygen cannula. I will never know if she was not thinking clearly and it just made her uncomfortable, or if removing it was her exit strategy.
In any case, our mission was that she die at home and not have to go to a hospital again or ever go to a nursing home. The fact that she died at home in the way she did was the perfect dignified ending we all hoped for.
Re: Carra Wishing the best for you at this time, Spike.
I am among many Sons who share this with you, so have some feelings at least in parallel.
A common truism is that none of us can understand the other in many ways - but going through a similar case of losing Mom just a few years ago now, I know the incredibly more deep closeness I developed with my Mom during the last slightly over five years of her life, ending in her late eighties.
Like you, personally right-there with her.
So many feelings about her that were unique to that time.
I'm glad you have the sense of expression well developed in your blog efforts and have written of this there. I see that as a mental strength - a way for your mind to work with this trauma and help you, and maybe others, understand it better.
Re: Carra Condolences, man.
My grandmother died a little while ago (in her mid 80's). She was declining from Alzheimer's, and I wound up her caretaker as it progressed. She worked at a bank when she was younger, up until she had kids. She enjoyed doing people's taxes and other bookwork, and those abilities slowly eroded. (She probably noticed a problem earlier than most people would)
She was actually in pretty good health otherwise. Never had high blood pressure, (could eat what she wanted), no particular arthritis issues, still had her teeth, vision / hearing were doing fine.
She went into a recovery nursing home for some therapy, and died a day later. Alzheimer's had pretty much taken everything by then though.
Re: Carra Condolences, Spiko, and to all. Let us consider the epitaph Ben Franklin wrote for himself...
The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost; For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended By the Author."
For me, stuff like this article occasionally works, occasionally. It indicates the mechanism of memory in the universe, not that the physicists involved "believe," in this premise at All! They are great scientists and loyal atheists. Yet, whether they agree or not, they did come up with a useful discovery and analysis, I think. This doesn't reverse entropy, but it does indicate that people, places, and things, are not forever lost.
I will be back on duty in a day or two. Right now, I have this odd feeling that I have been cut adrift. The Closing song from Silent Running keeps playing through my head.