Wednesday March 12, 2008 Elaine

Day 15, Treatment #3

The day started with a phone call from the nursing home saying that Mom wasn't doing well. I immediately phoned my brother Jim, who left right away to get to the home. As I was getting myself ready to go down, I phoned each of the other 3 brothers and let them know. Jim arrived just after Mom left for Heaven.

As I was traveling, I received "the call", so I slowed down a little. When I arrived, Mom was peaceful, and as I hugged her, I was relieved that she was still warm. I talked to her, told her again that I was proud of her, and that I loved her.

While we waited for the transport to come from Flushing, Jim, Polly, and I packed up her things, and every once in a while I found myself looking over at her to make sure she was ok. Funny.

We had just finished carrying her things out to our vehicles when Andy, the funeral home guy, came in, and I helped him transfer her onto his cart. I tucked her in, watched as he buckled her safely onto the cart, and kissed her goodbye. It was 11:45 am.

We had a 2 o'clock appointment at Rossell Funeral Home in Flushing to make our final selections. I stopped at the storage unit to pick up mom's "funeral clothes", and went on my way to Flushing. We had actually been there approximately 3 years ago for a "discovery/preplanning" meeting, and it was comforting to be in a now-familiar room with Dan, the Director we worked with at that time. Tom and Kathy Sue, Jim and Polly, and myself were there to complete this process, which took longer than we thought it might.

Details: Visitation Sunday 2pm - 8 pm at Rossell Funeral Home, Flushing, MI. Funeral Monday March 17, with visitation 0930-1030, Funeral Mass 10:30 at St. Roberts Catholic Church, Flushing, MI

After that meeting, we stopped over to Mom's sister's home, Lois, who is just blocks from the funeral home. We had a nice visit, along with light refreshments. We went on our way; Kathy Sue came home with me to spend the night. We're going back to Flushing tomorrow, will meet Tom there, and KS will go back home. Daniel will be back sometime Sunday.

Kathy Sue and I stopped to have supper on the way home. We stopped at the storage unit again to pick up mom's photo collection, to sort through and pick out some items for display. We came home, visited, selected some items, used the computer, and enjoyed each other's company.

I did ok today, overall. I got a little tired while at the funeral home, and was glad for the visit with my aunt, and my cousin Diane was there, too.

Our phones have been pretty busy today, and the next several days will be full, as well.

I need to thank the staff at the nursing home for doing what they do, for taking good care of Elaine and all the other residents, and for the support they give the family members, me included.

Readers, I know that this may have been a difficult post to read. I appreciate each and every one of you. Hugs.