This week has been a good reminder of what it is like to get old. My Mom, who is staying with us for the summer, had a major episode on Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning. We found her gasping for breath, and not very responsive and unable to move. We called 911 and an ambulance was sent out at 1:30 a.m. Meanwhile, a raging storm was brewing outside and we had a power failure as we were speaking to the 911 dispatcher. Could anything else happen?? We got reconnected, the ambulance and sheriff's deputies arrived and took Mom to the emergency room. Next day she was transferred to the Fargo hospital via another ambulance. Bottom line - her 91 yr old heart is just wearing out. So her heart and lungs were filling with fluid. If we should all live so long, we might also be in that predicament, too.
It was a long week of daily, long drives to Fargo. But Mom is home now and doing well and OK. She always enjoys coming up here in the north country and helping me with canning season and garden produce and just enjoying country living. What better thing for an old person than to feel needed and wanted and to be busy! Mom is back helping me today (but on a very slow schedule!) and doing what she loves. I think if we could all find something for our elderly loved ones to do, and something to make them feel needed and useful, this world would be a better place. I think too often in this busy world we just put our elderly away in some nursing home somewhere and think we are doing the best for them. That's OK if they truly cannot do much, but there are thousands of elderly folks wishing they could do things again, no matter how small. It used to be that we would take in our older parents and aunts and uncles and care for them at home. Those days are gone. Or, should they be?? This week put my own aging into perspective. I am 65, but someday if I should be so lucky as to live to 91, where will I be? Let us all treasure our elderly relatives, find things for them to do, and let them enjoy life as much as possible like they used to. If they are able. Life is indeed a fragile thing. I like to think that I am at least helping my Mom to enjoy her later years to the fullest. But scares like what happened last Tuesday morning, when she nearly died, is not in the plan.! Like one of the 10 Commandments states: Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother - let us all strive to honor our elderly loved ones as much as we can while they are still here. We will ALL be elderly someday, if we live long enough..................
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