What a week!

This past week was busy, busy, busy!

On Saturday 11/16, my Aunt arrived with her boyfriend and I hopped onto the auto train in Virginia with my arrival being Sunday late afternoon. The following day my brother arrived from Alaska. It was awesome to see how happy my mom was having everyone around. The last time we saw my brother was too long ago and the last time the three of us were together was forever ago.

The week went by too fast. My Aunt stayed til Wednesday. One night we had a grilled chicken dinner compliments of my Aunt and her boyfriend. Mom didn't have enough energy to come out to eat but she got to enjoy the company. On Wednesday, my brothers birthday, mom came out to the dining room for a nice Italian dinner and dessert. It was awesome. We all laughed and told stories. It was a great time.

Yesterday, my mom had the energy to come for a drive to the beach. It was a moment I won't forget. My brother held her one arm while I held her other as we walked up the boarded ramp and overlooked the ocean. It was beautiful. It didn't last long, but the time it did I could see how happy it made her. Afterwards, we stopped by a river near The Chart House and spotted a dolphin. We took some pictures of all of us together. It was a gorgeous view. When we came back home, we cooked up some food by the pool while my mom rested in bed with the sliding door open so she was still apart of the fun but she came outside here and there. She ate as much as she could. She hardly eats because of pain, so it is rewarding when she does!

 

 

 

 

Today was my brothers last day. It was hard to say good-bye. My mom kept saying to herself, "I won't cry, I won't cry," but we all knew she would. Afterwards, I gave my mom comfort and she took a nice long nap as I cleaned up around the house. Later in the evening, she was very emotional and told us the reason she cries is not because someone is leaving but because she doesn't want to die. When she talks about death, it breaks my heart into pieces but I have to hold it all back. I want her to live everyday in happiness, that is why I am here. Do I blame her to think that way? Absolutely not. I can't imagine the pain she has gone through going through breast cancer and immediately being diagnosed with ALS after chemo treatments. I don't know if I mentioned but she has lived with RA (rheumatoid arthritis) most of her life. Now she has to live with the pain of RA and the painful progressive disease ALS.

I think the hardest part about all of this is that I have a front row seat. When I lived in New Jersey, I was away from it. I was in the nose bleed section asking others what was happening. Now that I am here, I see and hear everything my mom is going through. It is much harder than I imagined. I am here though, and I wouldn't change it for the world.