When the time comes ...

*
So is an angiogram advisable for a woman with advanced lung disease? If they find a blockage and put in a stent, will it make a difference? Is it time to talk about comfort, dignity and unfortunately - reality?

Today someone said "end of life issues" and "end stage COPD". I don't think they meant Mom isn't going to graduate from this hospital stay, but were suggesting a different view, a different approach to her illness and acute episodes. It can't be fixed. COPD is incurable, the lungs just don't work after a while. And as much as I miss smoking, watching my mother basically suffocating to death is a real good reason to never start again.

I wish I knew what to expect. Will her heart give out during an acute breathing episode? Will a breathing episode become so acute she passes out and then needs to be kept sedated? What happens when someone dies from COPD, emphysema type? Does it have to be violent?

Morbid, yes. Not something pretty or blog fodder for that matter. But I have to think about it. I have to know what I am preparing myself for. If any family will be there with her when it happens it will be me, and probably my daughter. Is there a peaceful way for her to go? Is there a way for her to pass gently without gasping for breath and straining for air? Because I would want to choose that for her.

She doesn't want to die. But if she must, I want to choose the easiest route for her. Do I get to pick?

*

Maxine Monday

*

~ * ~

~ * ~

*

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to .. the hospital we go?

*
Another weekend, another trip to the hospital with Mom. She had a really bad breathing episode that all the iphone photos or breathing treatments weren't helping so in came the paramedics while my daughter, my mom's roommate and I kind of huddled in the hallway fighting the tears. All very scary, I might add. I've never been there when a horde of medical people with cases and gurneys crowd into a room and surround someone and start asking questions and taking vitals.

Can you say helpless feeling?

One day she's fine (relatively speaking) and the next she's in the hospital, really struggling. Today - she's struggling.

*

I'm nosy.

*
Warning! iPhone App! iPhone App!

I thought this was cool.

It's a webcam app that has dozens and dozens of cams but the fact that they are so varied and work so well is what I like about it. You can choose to see random cams, cities, attractions, people .. and a bunch of other categories. You can save the ones that interest you as favorites, and since there are cams all over the world - there is always something to see.


Question though, do you think even a fraction of these people have even an inkling they are being watched?

Hmm-m-m ...

*

*

It's called "LIVE CAMS"

*

Maxine Monday

*

~ * ~

~ * ~

*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

*

I am grateful for the liberty this country affords me so today I celebrate it's birth. Happy 4th of July everyone!

~ * ~

~ * ~

*

Self defense

*
I read about doing this somewhere. While I am waiting for my weapons grade ant killer to arrive in the mail, I still have to feed the cats. And since I am not going to go around and spray the cracks and crevices they are coming out of for now, I have to find alternatives. NOT leaving cat food out during the day is simply not an option.
So - cat food meets the pie plate.





The theory being that ants can't swim, although I'm not convinced mine can't, if I keep a moat of water around the bowl that holds the food, they will not invade it. Cats will just have to get used to it.




Doesn't seem to bother Riley.

And as for the ants that wander in - well, this baby won't be put away for a while.





Survival of the fittest. Or the thinking-est. Or somethin'.

*