A New Angel In Heaven

Thursday night while watching American Idol, my phone rang in the other room, unbeknownst to me. Afterwards, noticing I had a message on my phone, I checked the caller ID, and realized it was my aunt in MN. I listened to the voice mail message she left me; it was very brief.

I knew what this call was about.

For the last nine years, my uncle has been slowly succumbing to Alzheimers Disease. For almost all of those nine years, my aunt took care of him at their home, where he was most comfortable.

Recently though, he was needing more care than she was able to give. Being 81 years old, neither she nor he are/were spring chickens. It finally got to be too much for her. The decision was made, with the help of their children, to put him in a memory care home nearby.

He appeared to be adjusting ok for the first few days, but then he stopped eating, and wouldn't take his medications. They took him to the emergency room at the hospital, where he was admitted. He stayed there for a couple days, then was moved to a nursing home. After about a day, they refused to deal with him any longer, and returned him to the hospital. From what I've been told, they didn't have the anti-psychotic drug that he had been on, and the alternative they were giving him in the meantime wasn't working all that well. Another nursing home was found that was willing to deal with his problems.

Both my aunt and uncle decided years ago that they didn't want extreme measures taken to keep them alive, if there was no hope for a meaningful recovery. My aunt spoke with the doctors, and they all agreed that he was not going to get any better, and that they weren't going to force-feed him.

Tuesday February 24 2009, about 7:30PM, my Uncle Bill passed away quietly with his wife and daughter by his side. He was 81 years old.

Tomorrow morning, I am starting the long drive to the twin cities for the memorial, to be held at their church on Sunday. I'll return on Monday.

Hopefully my back will handle the trip ok. It's been bothering me all week and I've been taking Ibuprofen 800 mg, but I'm not looking forward to the 7 hour drive. Can you say rest stop? I'll be stopping at every one of them, plus maybe in between if necessary.

I'll catch up on everything when I get home next week.