(no subject)
A good friend of ours, Jane, has multiple sclerosis. We’ve known her for more than 15 years. When we first met, she walked with a cane, but that was the only way you could tell there was anything “wrong” with her.
Over the years, my husband and I have watched her decline, with nothing we could do but be her friends. First it was a walker. Then a wheelchair and hand-controls installed in their van so she could still drive. Then a motorized wheelchair and no more need for the hand-controls because she could no longer grip them or control the wheel. Then she was strapped into the chair because she couldn’t hold herself up anymore. Now there’s a head brace because she can’t hold her head up. There was a tube she could blow into to move the chair, but now she doesn’t have the strength in her lungs to do that anymore. She’s had a catheter for years. Her husband hand-feeds her and she drinks from a child’s sippy cup.
Sunday night, she couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cough to clear her throat so she might be able to breathe. Her husband called the emergency squad and they admitted her to the hospital. At first, they thought they’d just have her overnight as they cleared out her throat and lungs, but Monday they moved her to the intensive care unit. She was still there Tuesday, on a breathing machine. Wednesday, they doctors told her husband she’d probably have to be fed with a feeding tube - no more food or drink by mouth. Yesterday, they advised him to contact someone for constant palliative care - he doesn’t know yet if she can come home or if she’ll have to move into a nursing home or even a hospice facility.
When I saw her Sunday at church, she looked really bad and my first thought was that she looked like my mother had looked just a few weeks before the end. That was before Jane went to the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers, if you believe in that. I’m so not ready to lose my friend.
Over the years, my husband and I have watched her decline, with nothing we could do but be her friends. First it was a walker. Then a wheelchair and hand-controls installed in their van so she could still drive. Then a motorized wheelchair and no more need for the hand-controls because she could no longer grip them or control the wheel. Then she was strapped into the chair because she couldn’t hold herself up anymore. Now there’s a head brace because she can’t hold her head up. There was a tube she could blow into to move the chair, but now she doesn’t have the strength in her lungs to do that anymore. She’s had a catheter for years. Her husband hand-feeds her and she drinks from a child’s sippy cup.
Sunday night, she couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cough to clear her throat so she might be able to breathe. Her husband called the emergency squad and they admitted her to the hospital. At first, they thought they’d just have her overnight as they cleared out her throat and lungs, but Monday they moved her to the intensive care unit. She was still there Tuesday, on a breathing machine. Wednesday, they doctors told her husband she’d probably have to be fed with a feeding tube - no more food or drink by mouth. Yesterday, they advised him to contact someone for constant palliative care - he doesn’t know yet if she can come home or if she’ll have to move into a nursing home or even a hospice facility.
When I saw her Sunday at church, she looked really bad and my first thought was that she looked like my mother had looked just a few weeks before the end. That was before Jane went to the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers, if you believe in that. I’m so not ready to lose my friend.