My mother, 88 years young, breast cancer survivor (one of the women who developed it after post-menopausal HRT), long term Sjogren's syndrome patient, music teacher, sister, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, has sung her last song.
She has been hospitalized for the last 6 weeks following surgery for an intestinal obstruction. She is going into kidney and respiratory failure. They are going to shut the respirator off in the next 24-48 hours. I've thought of little else over the last several weeks than the reality discussed just a few short months ago when we read "Being Mortal". At various times I wondered about
whether we were on the slippery slope, and it is so hard to tell. There were days of rallying, when she was sitting up in the chair and talking and being her stubborn self.
She's one of our group too, you know. Her husband, my father, lost his battle with PC in 2004. I had to share my diagnosis and treatment with her. So, now it's time for the last, and longest (or shortest?) journey.
