Mom agrees to hospice (Sun 27 Feb, 2011)

Bill drove down from Redmond on Friday. This morning right before he left to drive back home, he sat down with mom and had a serious talk with her. He told her that we are all trying to help her fulfill her wish of staying there in her house at Rocky Point until the end, but that if she wants to stay there she is going to have to compromise a bit. (Until now she has been very adamant and hard-headed about how she doesn't need help.) Bill said that he tried to be as gentle as possible, but he told her that he wished that she would agree to Hospice. To his amazement, she agreed!

Bill says that he thinks she is starting to realize that she is declining, and that might be behind this sudden change of direction. Her wounded leg is hurting her a lot, and it affects her gait because she is favoring the leg. That in turn gives her aches and pains in the other side of her body just from the limping alone. Bill said that when they were shopping yesterday she held his arm every time they were walking, and he even had to help her in and out of the motorized carts. He said that he had his doubts that she would even be able to walk on her own. Even in her cabin, he says that she is extremely careful even when walking short distances, and she walks with an odd gait.

During their talk this morning, Bill also mentioned to her that she is going to have to be willing to allow some tolerance for new people coming in. She will have to realize that the Hospice people won't immediately know "The Florence Way" and she will have to be flexible and try not to get cranky. She said that she would give it a try.

So tomorrow (Monday) I will call the very nice KF Hospice nurse whom I have been dealing with. She already told me that she will come out to Rocky Point for an informational/assessment visit whenever we would like her to, so I am going to try to arrange that first visit for my first day in RP. Knowing mom I am still a little nervous that she will change her mind, but even before this morning's amazing about-face I had decided that I was going to have the Hospice nurse come out while I am there. But mom's agreement this morning will pave the way and make things a LOT easier.