It Ain't Good But She's Hanging Tough

Woke up this morning...a good thing. My last day off was August 22 and who knows when the next  one will be. It's not so bad splitting it between two jobs. I look at  it this way, I have four days off a week from the mattress store and three days off from the restaurant.

I met my sister and left my (her borrowed) car in a parking lot and she drove us to Griffin to visit Frances in the hospice.  We  were cruising along down Highway 16 chatting and laughing when we saw the entrance for the hospice a little too late. Cin took a hard fast left and screamed into the parking lot right in front of an oncoming eighteen wheeler headed in the other direction. As I stomped my foot on the passenger side floor board like it would brake the car, asked her if she was trying to reserve us a room at the hospice?  We both laughed, survived the turn and as we pulled in the parking noticed the flag out front was at half mast. My sister wondered why it was half mast and I said "Well it IS a hospice, maybe they just want to be ready.

I'll have to  say it is a really beautiful, brand new facility. It's still a hospice though. I knew Frances room number from her niece sending me a text yesterday. Franny was in B4. As we walked down the hall it was okay  til we hit the room B3. The door was open and a very old man  flat on his back, head up, eyes and mouth wide open seemed to gasp for breath, life or maybe either. Hospice is a sad place no matter who you are.

We got to B4 and the door was open. Franny was asleep on her back, little U shaped pillow around her neck with TV blaring. (she's deaf as a post)

It broke our hearts to see her like this. She has weathered so many illnesses and overcome many obstacles but as everyone knows, hospice is the last stop.

It took us a minute to wake her but when we did,  she  smiled  and perked  right up. Frances has always been an upbeat and positive person, even when down. Open heart surgery...a walk in the park. Botched catheter and six weeks in rehab, no problem. Kidney failure, no thanks Dialysis I'll just let this old body be and see how much longer God wants me around. I admire her attitude and outlook. She was showing us the bizarre bruising on her legs when I used  the erasable white board to write a note, "Your toenails look pretty, who painted them?" Frances read the message, nodding her head as she read, looked up at me, squinted and said in her hilariously scratchy voice "WAL MART!"

She's lost a tremendous amount of weight and that worried me. She could wear MY clothes. She told Cin and me she wanted to change pajamas and immediately started  unbuttoning her PJ top. Her boobs were out there for all of us to see but had the humor to say "Now watch my preacher come a knocking at the door." Not two seconds later a man knocked on the door and tried to come in. We told him to give us a second while we buttoned her back up and then said the peep  show was over, come on in!

It was a man from her church...Floyd. Super nice guy, never met him but know him now.

 We would write on the white board to Frances but then have to give it back to another person in the room to write another response. I know Frances feels funny when we are all talking about her and she can't hear us. Cin and I decided to go to and buy three or four white boards. That way we could all chat at once.

We stopped for lunch at a burger joint one of my high school friends turned me onto. If you are ever in Griffin, Ga go to Griffith's Drive In on Hwy 16. Excellent slaw dogs and pretty  good burgers too.

We bought the dry erase boards on the way back. When we had left, the aid was helping to change Frances' PJ's when Floyd said "Guess I'll leave now." Frances hollered (she always hollers) "It'll only take a minute, don't go!"

When we pulled back into  the parking lot I said to my sister, "I wonder if she is still holding Floyd hostage?"

We wheeled back in (this time without an eighteen wheeler oncoming)  my sister said "I think that is Floyd just now pulling out in his truck out of that parking space." Jeez, her eyes are worse than mine. Floyd was a nice trim man, the dude driving the truck  was a big ole fatty. I told her "That might the man who ate Floyd, but it isn't Floyd."

We took Frances four dry erase boards back, put one in each chair in her room chatted a bit more but had to go. Cin had a UMW retreat to attend, I had to cut the front yard before working at  five and felt terrible  about leaving but felt good about having gone to see Franny.

She's in hospice...not a good thing, usually a not so long good bye but at least she's still kicking and can still make us laugh.

She is a wonderful woman and have been blessed to have her in our lives.

Tim's going to visit and pick Massey up tomorrow... bring her home for an overnight stay, then I can take her to visit Franny on Sunday before taking her back to the university.

God can perform miracles. I just need for Him to swing one Frances' way.

Til next  time...COTTON

P.S. I have the most terrific sister ever. Always there for me and  always hurt from laughing so much after we've been together. Never met a person who doesn't love Cindy. She's my rock!

There's No Place like Home, There's No Place Like Home...

Zachary and I went to visit Frances today...and didn't even have to use a code to get in to see her!

This was my first visit to her "real" home. It is just as tidy, compact and cute as Frances is herself!

Zach went right in and sprawled out on her couch.

It is hard to believe that this amazing woman (APPROACHING) eighty has had triple bypass surgery, another surgery to replace her pacemaker and an open wound in her thigh from a botched catheter, not to mention she has a lens implant and is almost deaf...but has bounced back like a teen.

Her niece came down today from Tennessee to spend a couple of days with her and we were there when she arrived. It was like meeting myself in a few years (if I am lucky.)

She bounces into the house and takes over the floor, room and house. Her sister, Elizabeth who is also very close to Frances...is more like MY sister. Isn't it crazy that Frances has two sets of sisters that are so different yet so alike, all loving her at the same time?

If we don't kill her with our"UP, Down, Quiet, Loud, Bursting, Thinking" differences it will be a true testament that God is for looking out for her, while we all run over her with our different approaches and personalities!

It has been such fun getting to know this whole new part of my family tree.

Who would ever think that I would be grateful for a triple bypass, pacemaker surgery, goof up by a doctor and rehab to make me realize how blessed I am with a whole new family and new friends for life?

Life.

Ya gotta make the best of it and when you do, it usually works out to your advantage.
Frances and Barbara are coming to eat with me at the restaurant tomorrow and I can't wait for everyone to meet her...they have certainly HEARD enough about her and now get to see why I have come to love her soooo much!

Just wait til THAT blog!

Just One More

Just got home from work. Massey comes home tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. She has had a good time but I can tell she is ready to come back and rule the castle once again.

Went to see Frances today. My restaurant called me early this morning asking if I could go by the restaurant in my town and pick up some cheddar cheese and bring it in when I went into work. I told them that I'd be glad to but I didn't come in til 4 PM. The manager said that I was due in at 10:30. I freaked out, thinking they had changed my schedule without me noticing. The manager said, "It's Tuesday." I told him that in fact the day was Thursday. After making him feel stupid, I told him I was heading that way anyway to visit Frances and if he would buy her lunch for me to take to her I would oblige.

Zoomed by our restaurant in Newnan to pick up the cheese and phoned Frances' lunch order in when I got back in my car. When I got to the store I work at, I handed off the cheese and Frances' lunch was ready for me. I went to the nursing home with her lunch in my hand and of course she was thrilled with the salmon, rice and vegetables I had brought.

When I walked in the room it seemed a lot bigger and then I realized that Frances was sitting in a chair by the bed and the wheelchair was gone. She told me that they had taken her wheelchair away and put her on a walker. That is good news though...it means she is improving .

By this point my sister had arrived and I exclaimed "Frances is on a walker now!" Frances said that she made them put a basket on the front of her walker so she could carry the computer up to the lobby to connect to the internet. She made the comment "They took way my car and gave me a wheelbarrow."

So after lunch, Frances pushed her wheelbarrow up to the lobby with me and my sister in tow to "Get on line." We had to restart the computer and it took a few minutes. Frances is always so upbeat...she remarked "I got nothing but time." She checked her email and we helped her clean out her inbox. Then she got on the family web site to read where all of our relatives have been writing to her. When we are in the lobby, we are at a table with Frances' back to everyone else, including the front desk. Frances won't mind me saying this (I am sure she knows it more than anyone) she is extremely hard of hearing. That is the whole reason we wanted her to have a computer here, so she can keep in touch via email, my blog and the family website. Not to mention she can check her bank statement and make sure all bills are being paid online.

While we were sitting in the lobby the girl at the front desk made an announcement over the P.A. "Patients , employees and visitors please ignore the upcoming fire alarm, we are just testing the system."

It was followed by a piercing screeching noise that continued on and on and on. Frances with her back to it all just kept on pecking on the keyboard. The minute it started, patients were scrambling on their walkers to get through the fire doors before they swung shut trapping them in the lobby. Frances kept right on typing. My sister and I were in tears by this point. Finally Frances glanced up from the keyboard, cocked her head to one side and made a squinty face toward the sound. She quickly resumed her typing and finished her post on the family website.

I guess being hard of hearing has it's advantages at times.

What was killing all of our ears was merely a nuisance to her... once it penetrated her hearing aide.

She's a cracker jack. She has a great wit and an even better outlook on her own situation. I turned to look at the ladies behind the front desk and commented that I bet an actual fire drill was a site to see in a nursing home. My sister added that she bet a lot of employees called in sick that day. I can just see the patients pushing other walkers and wheelchairs out of their way, thinking...Now is the time to get the hell out of here, MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!

Frances was still typing when I realized I only had an hour to get back home, iron a shirt for work and barely make it on time. My sister said she would wait and walk Frances back to her room.

I needed that laugh, me and my sister were in tears. Everyone else on alert and Frances happily typing away.

I called my sister tonight when I got home from work and she told me that when she walked Frances back to her room she made the comment that the "alarm" just kept going off. So she heard it after all, but it was just a slight annoyance to her when it sent other patients scrambling for cover.

Going to visit Frances is always interesting, always a pleasure and always a good blog!