Jennie:

Sorry to hear about your mom. Losing a mother is a very sad and you will
miss her.
I have just lost my mother-in-law on Mothers Day.  She had cancer and her
family was by her side until the end.
I still have my mother and thank god everyday, I get to spend the time with
her.

take care,
thinking of you,
hugs,
Dianne

"> On Thu, 27 May 2004 20:42:01 GMT, "Jennie" <jbuzun@nospam.nc.rr.com>

To everyone in the group who has written,

I really appreciate your comments and condolences.

I learned a few interesting things toward the end.  One was that Hospice
generally wishes that people would call them sooner.  Hospice can be ordered
by the doctor (I even found out that you can self-refer) within the last 6
months of a person's life.  Of course, some live longer than the doctor's
predictions; if Hospice feels the patient has stabilized and that they are
less needed, they will just come less often, so folks needn't feel that they
shouldn't call Hospice because they really aren't sure how much longer
someone has to live.

We barely called Hospice in time.  The nurse did the intake visit Sunday
morning, and by Sunday evening, we all knew that my mother had reached the
final stage of her journey.  The Hospice nurse commented that people in her
line of work either love or hate the job (those that hate it don't last
long).  She said that she wished she could have entered our lives earlier
because her favorite part of the job is helping the family celebrate the
life of the person who is reaching the end stage.

I'm sure that some may not think much of our decision, but my sister and I
decided to donate my mother's brain to the Alzheimer's Disease Research
Center here in town, through their Brain Donation program.  Because my
mother had extensive medical records diagnosing her Alzheimers through the
local affiliated hospital, she was able to be accepted into the donation
program.  We barely got the papers signed in time, as the Brain Donation
program was something I only learned about within the past 2 months.  In the
coming months, I will be signing up to become a Brain Donor myself, since
they need "healthy" brains for controls in the study.  (I asked them what
about if I got AD, and they promised not to kick me out of the study!).

As we sat with the Hospice nurse, waiting for the Brain Donation people, we
were able to celebrate my Mom's life a little.  In her later years
(obviously before AD struck) my Mom actually took up a new hobby -
photography.  (And who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks??!!)  She
photographed her vegetable and flower gardens, and the birds that came to
her yard (including some amazing photos of hummingbirds).  My sister
recalled that she would sometimes sit for hours waiting for the right moment
to photograph a particular bird.  My only regret is that there aren't very
many pictures of my mother in there, since she was almost always the
photographer.

Again, thanks to everyone for their sympathies.

-Jennie