Last Days

I wasn't sure I wanted to add these pictures. Some of them might be disturbing, but well, they won't go on a facebook link! 

Mum lost ground quickly. This first photo is from September 15, about 10 days before she died. 

It was decided she needed to eat pureed foods. This meant they took the food, pureed it, then molded it into what it should have been. Mum said the potatoes and gravy were about the best things she'd been offered. The pancake was awful! The 'meat' was also dubious. Pureed and reformed sausage is just wrong. 

Mum's hens and chicks were budding, I sent the plant home with Janet to see if she could coax it into bloom. She does have quite a few chickens.....

Sunrise on the way to the hospital during a road construction stop. Mom would be impressed or maybe dismayed at the work they've done. 

Below is from the 21st. She'd moved to needing oxygen and was fighting every breath of the way to live. 

                                     
Her room was always full of visitors. The nurses were amazed at how many people knew her. Even some of the nursing staff knew her personally. One woman helped train Obi, another was, I think, the grandchild of one of mom's good friends from days gone by. There were lovely moments with each visitor. Below is a very old friend. Nikki and mom used to fish together ages ago. Nikki has Alzheimer and she remembered mom and they shared stories as best they could with bad hearing and an oxygen mask.

 Mom's body was full of liquid, they decreased her hydration, but she couldn't get rid of the water very well. Her legs were where it started. This arm also ended up with a blood clot.

 After mom was gone, I found this plate on a car next to mine in the parking lot. I'm not sure it is accurate, but it was comforting.

Aunt Darlene and Erin came up for a couple of days. Erin has photos of all of us, but she's not sent them to me yet. I'll share those once they arrive. It was incredibly lovely to have them here, they were such a tremendous help. Aunt Darlene stayed at the hospital and then the two of them helped move mom's yard stuff into storage for the winter.  

 Here is my cousin Erin residing on a log. The tide was really high on this evening and we even took Obi to the beach. He really liked Erin!

 JaLeen and Janet have been out several times, I managed to get a couple of very bad photos of Obi and JaLeen, this was the best of them. Obi is now with his new furever friend, Colleen.

As I was out and about this last week, I noticed mom's shoes were still on the front porch (it is the front door, but no one uses it as much as the back door). I'm trying to walk in her shoes, not to fill them, cuz I can't, but to walk a path close to hers and it has been a great deal of work. I'm fortunate for those angels around me who have helped. My sister and mom's church and my friends and my family. 

Nancy Mae Egbert

Above is a link to her obituary.