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Birthday Party Pictures! . wish list . Before October 1st Information about EileenOctober 19. 2002Mom will have a vigil service / rosary on Thursday, October 24 at 7:30 PM at the Lima Family Mortuary, located at 1315 Hollenbeck Ave, in Sunnyvale, California. October 18, 2002Mom passed away last night peacefully in her sleep. As soon as arrangements are made, they will be posted here and communicated via telephone and newspaper announcement. We are working on the biography of Mom for the announcement and want to try to remember every organization she was involved with. She gave her time to so many things, I'm worried a list we compile may be incomplete. It would be helpful if you could send an email (eileen_fh@yahoo.com) with the names of the organizations you know of that she supported and the places that she worked, that would be very helpful. October 11, 2002Mom has been awake during the day again the last few days. She's got some pain that we're able to control with medication. She's almost totally non-verbal, but she does react to people. I read her some cards that arrived last night and she reacted to hearing the names of her friends. Some friends came to visit and I know it made her happy. She needs less medication when loved ones are around. She's doing a little worse today than yesterday and probably worse yesterday than the day before. How she's doing could change kind of rapidly. Call before you come over. 408-725-0644 October 9, 2002We've turned up mom's oxygen, and she is in a hospital bed in the living room, so she's more comfortable. She's been awake today, and has been more responsive than in previous days, but if you want to see her, you should do so now. Delay is ill advised. Today is an excellant day to come for a visit. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to see her. October 8, 2002Mom is sleeping almost all of the time now. This is part of the progression of her disease. She is alert for only a few minutes a day. She awakes for a moment at other times, but is not alert. Her alertness will only decrease. Her time remaining is very limited. If you want to see her, you should not delay. Just because she is not responsive does not mean that she will not be aware of your presence and appreciate your visit. If you have anything you want to say to her, this is definitely the time to do it. We are soon going to relocate mom to a hospital bed, probably in the living room, since a hospital bed would be more comfortable for her. Come over to see her anytime. October 5, 2002Mom has been sleeping a whole lot the last couple of days, sleeping the night and day away. The hospice nurse told us a while ago that patients with her diagnosis tend to sleep more and more. We'll see if she returns to more wakefulness. She hasn't gotten much of a chance to try out her new wheelchair yet. Call if you want to visit, you might catch her awake. 408-725-0644. It takes her some time to warm up after she wakes up from a nap and get her bearings. She's never been a morning person. October 1, 2002Back when my mom was getting occupational therapy, I remember that the therapist asked mom to draw a clock. Mom drew a nice picture of a bedside clock, almost getting the face correctly. Then the therapist asked mom if she could draw a stick figure of a person. And mom drew another picture of a clock. Ever since she's been sick, she's had trouble doing things sequentially, getting the first thing confused for things coming afterwards. So sometimes a person dear to her will visit and she'll exclaim, "Oh it's so nice to see you! I haven't seen you for a long time!" to both her loved one and the driver of the loved one whom she's never met before. And then people incorrectly assume she doesn't know who they are, because she seemed just as excited to see their driver. Well, this isn't the case. It's just that she has trouble going on to the next thing. Her happiness to see you spills over on to your friends that she's just met. Trust me, she doesn't become very happy to see everyone who comes through here. Only folks she cares about get her looking so happy. We have put ina request for a reclining wheelchair. It's the lazyboy of wheelchairs. This will be great for mom because it will allow her to sit up longer. She's been having some trouble sitting up due to weakness on her right hand side. But after this arrives, when she gets tired, she can lie back for a minute without having to go back to bed. Hopefully it will also allow her to get outside more and perhaps go for some walks, especially now that the weather has gotten a bit cooler. So maybe soon, you'll see her a bit more up and about than she's been for the last couple of weeks. Mom's morale is good. She's eating well. She smiles a lot. She's been comfortable, especially the last few days. She seems to need less pain medication since friday and is in a better mood. Also, her tremor has greatly subsided. she's talkative when she's awake, but it's sometimes very difficult to tell what she might be talking about. Sometimes she seems to be talking about a friend and then it seems more like the dog or perhaps lunch. Other times she makes more sense. How she's doing can vary greatly from day to day and hour to hour. It's a good idea to call before you stop by (although any time is fine, unless she's going to be getting a bath or something) and if you would desire for my father or I to be there when you visit, just call the evening and schedule something. 408-725-0644 |