The last week of Mom’s life was filled with some of the most precious moments that I hold on to today and some of the worst moments. As a person gets closer to death, that time with them becomes sacred. This time with Mom gave me the chance to make some incredible memories and it gave me the opportunity to get a glimpse of Heaven through what Mom was experiencing. It appeared that in Mom’s last week of life she…
Alzheimer’s is like a prison. At times, Mom was locked behind doors literally for her safety, but the biggest prison was her brain which was closing in on her more and more. She was lost and did not know where she was. We would get glimpses of her now and then. I would long for her to be with Jesus. I knew then I would have so much peace knowing where she was and who she was with. The last…
Mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for a couple years and had moved five times. She had to leave the home she had lived in for over 50 years, she moved in with us, and then moved to three different facilities. These years had been hard and she had not been happy until she moved to Magnolia Trace, a retirement community that had different levels of care. It was here that things started to improve and she began to thrive…
Living and caring for a loved one with dementia is a roller coaster. My last post was about Mom’s diagnosis and the eight months she lived with us. After living with us for eight months, we moved her from our home to a memory care facility. It took a few weeks of preparing Mom before the move. We had home health coming several days a week to help oversee Mom’s care during that time. Her home health nurse was phenomenal….
You never know how life is going to turn out. My mom had a fear of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She had several siblings that had Alzheimer’s warranting her fear. Several years after she retired, she was faced with her worst fear. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012. Initially, Mom was able to continue to live at home, drive, and maintain her independence. As Alzheimer’s began to rob her of her memory she began to lose her independence. For…
Relationships are most important starting with your relationship with Jesus. Jesus chose his disciples wisely. The disciples were his closest friends. It is important for us to follow His example. When choosing our closest relationships, we should look at Jesus’ example and be intentional with who we choose. My best friend in my teenage years and beyond was my mother. No matter what was going on in life, she was always there for me. She would often just show up…
This month is National Diabetes Month. I was 4 years old when Mom was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. She was diagnosed on February 14th, 1973 at 35 years old. Dad had bought her Valentine candy that year but she never got to eat it. She had been having episodes of weakness for about a year. The doctor would do fasting blood sugars but they were inconclusive. Shortly before she was diagnosed, she had started losing weight, feeling thirsty…
I was born in Scottsboro to very loving, kind, and devoted parents. I was a momma’s girl and a daddy’s girl. My mother was a stay-at-home mom until I was in the fourth or fifth grade, so we spent a lot of time together. Anytime my dad was going anywhere, I always jumped at the opportunity to go with him. I loved hanging out with him no matter what we were doing. I would lay in his lap and he…
There once was a young boy that loved speed whether it was a motorcycle or a car. He would jump on his motorcycle with no shirt, no shoes, and no helmet. There were times that he would attempt to outrun the police, but unfortunately for him, he ran out of gas and got caught. This all started when he was 14 years old. Throughout the next several years, there were multiple motorcycle accidents and multiple broken bones. He would wake…
My husband, Lionel and I thought we were living our best life during our dating days and early marriage. We were partying several nights a week, hosting parties, attending parties, drinking heavily and living life to the fullest, we thought. In 1997, Lionel suddenly started having some very alarming symptoms indicating something was wrong. His leg started dragging, he would have to lift it into the car, slurred speech, and left arm weakness. I was working at a clinic as…