Every day can bring a blessing or many blessings, but then there are days where the shadows of hard things happening make those blessings more difficult to see. This weekend has been like that. My mother fell on Friday morning. At first we hoped she was only bruised, but as the day went on, it was obvious something bad was wrong. She couldn’t bear to put weight on one of her legs. Much to her distress, we called the ambulance and brought her to the hospital. She has a fractured hip socket. The only treatment is to keep the weight off that hip socket. So she has to stay in bed and not put any weight on her leg. Easy enough or might be if she remembered breaking her hip. The dementia makes everything more difficult. The pain is not bad as long as she’s sitting or lying still so she thinks she’s okay. Every few minutes she wants to get up, find her clothes and go home. Every few minutes I have to tell her she has a broken hip and has to stay in the hospital.
Many of you have walked this same sad path with your parents or relatives. There are no easy stops on this dementia path. We can only send up prayers for patience, prayers for pain relief, prayers for courage for her and for us daughters trying to help her. And many friends are praying for her and us. That is so touching – to know that people will take time to pray for us. I believe in the power of prayer and that prayer makes a difference.
The picture above is of Mom and her only niece a few weeks ago. Linda was the youngest of our cousins and she would come to spend a week with us every summer. She would sit out on the back rock and feed our hens corn until she managed to catch one to stroke its feathers. This is a picture of me and Linda back in her chicken catching days. She has her own pet hens now, she told Mom when she came to visit. Mom enjoyed talking with her about those days.
Mom always liked her hens too and raising chickens. So many good things she’s done. She’s always been tough and did whatever had to be done. Now she’s been hit with a problem she can’t overcome. Not the hip. While that might be difficult, it is possible that it might heal. The dementia is what can’t be overcome. And that’s sad for all of us.
Thanks for reading. I hope your blessings are bountiful this week and that the sunlight falls on your path and makes every day bright for you. With Mom in the hospital, I haven’t had a chance to pick my five winners in my May giveaway, but I will before Wednesday. I appreciate all of you who entered. Thanks a bunch.