Extra, Extra --NY Times Headlines

So much has happened in the last six weeks that I feel like I’ve been on a trip around the world. I will try my best to get you all caught up.

After Sarah’s birthday, Bob went into full blown Parkinson’s dementia. We have always been dealing with behavior problems, no sleep, and some confusion, but this was ridiculous. It was like we were living in a nightmare and couldn’t wake up from it. Hospice was trying to work with us to get him under control. Medications were changed so much and fast I couldn’t keep up with what I was giving and when. I had to start looking at my medication chart that I keep for him every day. He also was beginning to look like he had been in a horrible accident. Bruises covered his arms and legs and it was hard to tell the new bruises from the old bruises.

Suddenly I found myself not taking photos of Bob for memories, but for documentation. I was taking photos of falls, injuries, and things he was doing at night to show Doctors and Nurses as they came to check on him. Grabbing the camera to take a photo wasn’t fun any more. It was beginning to be a chore and not pleasant.

I kept telling Bob over and over he had to be careful. “It’s only going to take one good fall.” I would tell him. Bob so wanted his independence though and would still get up and walk and do things when he wasn’t suppose to.

Well, that one good fall happened last week. Last Tuesday he got up and walked back to his bedroom and was looking through his dresser drawers. He turned, got his feet tangled, and fell. He had worn his angels out and this time they let him slip through their fingers and he hit the floor hard. He was taken to the hospital and we quickly learned that Bob had broken his hip.

On Wednesday, Bob had surgery and on Friday, he was sent home back to hospice. Bob did very well with the surgery, but he is not going to recover from this. He is being kept very comfortable and we are doing everything we can for him.

We have all had our emotional roller coaster ride. One minute we are laughing, and the next moment we start crying. Sarah is such a great kid and she told me the other day, “Mom, stop looking at Pop-Pop with your eyes and start looking at him with your heart and soul. If you will do that you will see that he is ready and you need to let his body go.” Wow, those were words of wisdom.

Last night Bob told me he needed a travel carry-on bag because he is getting ready to go on a trip in a couple of weeks. He kept telling me that he needed my help to pack. I told him, he was already packed and everything was already taken care of where he’s going.

He then told me that he wanted me to post his trip in the NY Times. I found that strange and asked if he didn’t mean the Lexington Harold, and he told me that was a good one also, but the NY Times was a bigger paper and more people would see it. He wanted it on the head lines. I told him I would take care of it.

As family and friends we are selfish and want Bob to stay with us forever and not complete his journey here on this earth, but if we stop looking with our eyes we will see that his journey is finish and it’s time for him to more on.

We are going to be blessed with hopefully, a few more weeks with him and we will cherish these last moments and use them to reflect back on memories of loved ones that he is about to be reunited with.

I will keep everyone informed the best that I can. If he is having a good day and can talk I will have him call people, we will just have to wait and see how things go. Please still send him your love because he can still feel it even if you are far way.