In March of this year, my last living grandparent passed away at the age of 93. I was able to spend the last week of her life with her and though she was unconscious while I was with her, it was very meaningful to me to be there with her. Hospice made it possible for her to die in her bedroom at my parent's home where she had been living for the past three years. My grandparents were lucky in that none of them spent the last of their days in nursing homes. None of them had lengthy illnesses. It's sad that so many of us will say that we hope we die before the need arises to go into a nursing home. Not having any children, I have thought the same thing many times, "please let me die before I can no longer take care of myself!" Anyone who has visited a nursing home, especially a bad nursing home, has probably seen the vacant eyed old people sitting in their wheelchairs in the hallway because the nursing home is required to have them out of their room for some length of time, the weird smell of the place and the sterile environment. I know that there has to be a better way. I remember sitting with my grandmother when she was dying and looking at the picture she had hanging on the wall of her and my grandfather when they were in their twenties. It is so easy for people who work with the elderly to forget that they were once young. They were not always old and frail. I am starting a job this week working with persons who are elderly and low income so I think this topic will be meaningful to me for my job and for myself. Each post will discuss a different end of life topic like hospice care, nursing home care, alternatives to traditional nursing home care and living wills. This song that is playing, the Wabash Cannonball, was a song that my grandmother would sing to me when I was sitting on her lap as a little girl.
Sara
About Me
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- pixiegirrl
- I live near Mobile Bay with my husband and four dogs; Higgy, Eliza, Alfred and Mischa. I love vintage and although it is just me and my husband in our decent sized house, I am running out of space to indulge my addiction, uhm I mean passion. I am only 45 years old. I still have a good 40 years left to acquire seemingly useless items from garage sales and thrift stores. Perhaps I can be on the next season of A&E's Hoarders. Just kidding I only hoard good stuff not empty pizza boxes and the like.
1 comment:
Hey Sara! I understand what you mean, my dad was in a nursing home and I was there almost everyday, but it seemed as if the majority had no one. It was quite pitiful. I hated my daddy being there but my oldest half brother made that choice. He was the one responsible for making sure the fee was paid and he lived closer to the facility than I did, but he came only when he had to and there were several times he came in and paid the bill while I was there and I would see him leave and he would never walk down the hall to check on or speak to daddy. It is a frightening thought to be so alone and so dependent. The only hope for us and especially those who don't have children or younger close family to see about us in our golden years I would think, is a living will and I'm sure you know they even have them for mental stability issues as well as physical.
This is a great topic, and death and taxes as they say, are inevitable.
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