Remembering Mom

One year ago this month, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. The doctors did not know how long she would live. They said they did not see it going on for years, more like months. With that, they helped us get signed up for hospice and we went on to sort out the new routine amongst our shock and sadness.

The difficult and at the same time not difficult part was that Mom's Alzheimer's seemed to have progressed to the point that she did not make new memories easily so she did not remember she had a terminal illness. All she knew was she had a bump on her head that hurt sometimes, but it did not hurt a lot or all the time. Hence, she was not as distressed as she would be so we went on with our routines. My training in mind body holistic therapy and positive psychology comforted me since she was under less stress this way and therefore not hurting her overall health with cortisol.

Hospice came in with a nurse, chaplain and expressive therapist. Mom was a wonderful artist down to the very end and she enjoyed the art time and the therapist enjoyed Mom's art (along with everyone else at Hospice).

Mom passed in August last year and this is the first anniversary time for us as a family of her demise. I started this blog thinking I would be chronicling our journey through the end of her life but there was no time. Now it seems a better plan to post through this time of anniversary. So there will be poignant posts and some bittersweet and some that are funny. This is how life is. It is not all one thing or another. It is mixed.