Thank you Alz Connected and All of you

Firefly4777 · June 23

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to each of you.
Thank you for this association and for this page.
My mama passed away at home on Thursday, June 19th at 2:30am.
She was taken to the doctor on June 6th for what ended up being shingles and a UTI.
At that visit, the doctor suggested that we may want to look into In home hospice care.
(due to seeing how quickly she had declined mentally and physically.)
Once Mama had to use disposable briefs, my 82 year old Dad was just unable to care for her any longer. My brother and I were with him, but we also had to work, so sometimes no one was there to help. That is when the decision was made that it was time to ask for help. We spoke to Baptist Hospice and decided that having a nurse visit 3 times a week and having a CNA visit daily would be the best thing for Mama.
She was in so much pain and everything seemed to change so quickly.
This disease is so horrible. She battled it for a total of more than 10 years.
We are very thankful, first of all, to our Dad, who faithfully fulfilled his vows to Mama.
Their 58th wedding anniversary was yesterday… she missed it by only 3 days.
She was 80 and he is 82, but he never left her side.
He cared for her, bathed her, fed her, dressed her, gave her the medication she needed and he was with her 24/7.
He is our hero.
We are also very thankful for MS Baptist Hospice and the wonderful care they gave to Mama.
I am SO thankful that we were all able to be with her, around the clock, in our own home, until she passed. It was SO hard seeing her seem to hurt, but the nurses assured us that her medication was helping and that she was not in pain.
What bothered me most, was how long the process took. While it sounds mean, I certainly don't mean it that way.
What I mean is, you want them to just be OK. You want them to be healed. You want them to not hurt. You prepare yourself as their breathing slows, and sometimes stops, then starts again and it just rips your heart out. We are so grateful that she lived a few days past what was expected, but it was also so tough for everyone. We are happy we were able to get more hugs and tell her "I LOVE YOU" many times before she left. What a blessing.
I just want to encourage any of you who are also going through this right now, Stay Strong.
Keep loving on them and talking to them and telling them stories and say everything you feel you need to say, while you have them.
Also, keep in mind that at this stage and if they are in hospice care, the brain has literally turned off the receptors for hunger and thirst.
This was one of the worst parts for me, because I felt like we were starving her to death.
It took a lot of conversations and convincing before I finally understood and felt at peace, knowing she was in fact, not suffering.
I am heartbroken and always will be, but this community helped me SO much throughout Mama's illness.
I want you to all know how much I appreciate your advice and your support and I want you to know, it really will be ok. Keep loving them and keep standing strong.
Be gentle with yourself and understand that you really are doing the best you can do, with what you have.
You are all wonderful and I pray for God to give you peace and strength during this fight.
My prayers and love are with your sweet loved ones as well.
Much love to you all,
Beth