I miss our late night talks...

by Deborah
(North Carolina)

My mom was not only my mother, but she was my friend. We grew up together. She had me when she was only 17. I was as close to her as I was to any of my friends, if not more so. In the last 12 years of her life, she was constantly sick. She had her right eye and sinus passage removed because of an invasive fungus. The meds they used to treat her caused kidney failure in the long run. So, she went on dialysis. She had a condition called sarcoidosis, high blood pressure, diabetes...the list went on.

She became housebound...constrained to a wheelchair and her lift chair. For a while, she was able to scoot around the house and do a few things. But as time went on, her condition deteriorated. In the last few months, she was in the hospital off and on for weeks at a time. She developed an infection in her leg which began to spread. The doctors could offer us no more hope.

So, my mom and our family decided (with heavy hearts) to let her go to hospice so that she could go as comfortably as possible. You see, there in the end...she was in so much pain. So, the decision to go off of dialysis and have her kept out of pain...was the only way we could help her. It took 4 days from the day she went in, to pass away in her sleep.

My worst regret was not being able to make it down to Atlanta in time to say goodbye. I hope she knows how much I loved her and how much I always will.