My trip to Florida was bittersweet. I hadn't seen my Mom since March, and her friends told me I needed to come. That she wasn't doing well. Mom's friends are in their eighties and nineties. They had been watching out for her in the retirement complex, and I didn't want to expose them to COVID. So I spent 72 hours at Crescent Beach, taking my temperature and making sure I felt good. The beach was beautiful, and I used my cell phone on my first long walk. I love the Snapseed App for processing phone pictures.
I walked into Mom's apartment at noon on Tuesday. She was sitting in her bathrobe looking despondent. A small lump on November 13th had exploded into her whole neck three weeks later. I spent three sleepless nights with her before they admitted her to the hospital oncology floor. They let me stay with her there, too, and nights were the hardest.
But we also had fun. I said that her CAT scan results didn't look good — that we should have gotten a DOG scan. "Do they even have dog scans?" she asked. The next afternoon she asked me when we were leaving port for Antarctica. (where she and I had cruised twelve years ago) I looked out the window — the children's hospital across the street did look like a cruise ship terminal! The doctors said she could eat whatever she wanted, so I got the cookies, french fries, and apple pie she wanted.
She passed away a week after I arrived. It was painless, I hope, as she was well under a cocktail of morphine and Ativan. My brothers and I cleaned out her apartment, and I bought a ticket home. On the way, I went to Sand Key and took more photos. The Marriott there is my favorite hotel, and it, too, is like being on a cruise ship as it looks over the bay. The kids on the balcony near me were feeding seagulls, so I played with my new camera, a Nikon D7500.
I'm home for Christmas and glad this year is over. I prayed for all her friends, hospital staff, and the world last night when I went to church. Yes, we had church for Christmas Eve, and we even sang carols!
The Lord's Prayer gave Mom comfort in the hospital, and now she is with God.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/gainesville/obituary.aspx?pid=197305394