This is me in the picture, holding my nephew at the hospital. He was such a sweet baby boy! Mom is looking on, since she already had her turn!
Mom and Dad and baby Garrett at Thanksgiving!~
Thanksgiving came with mixed emotions for all of us. With all the joy surrounding the birth of Baby Garrett, sadness also came. Mom realized that she was not going to be around to watch him grow up. I found her crying one day, staring out the window, her mind off in the distance. I asked her what was she thinking about. She said through the tears, "I can't get on the floor and play with my grandson, soon I may not be able to hold him, feed him, or rock him to sleep. I waited so long for this baby, and now he won't know how much I love him, will he even remember me when I am gone?"
Tears became waterfalls of pain and heartache. I grabbed the tissue box, crying myself, and just hugged her. I promised her that we would make sure Garrett remembered her. We would never stop talking about her and the love she had for her family! No one would forget her! She was to special for that!
Emotionally Mom was back and forth with the thoughts of her mortality. Then a setback happened. Mom fell. She was using her walker and got her foot tangled and was flat out on the floor. She just couldn't get around much on her own. She started using the wheelchair more and more. It was obvious that her other leg was also giving out. Not communicating with the brain anymore. But we just got the diagnosis! This is just too soon! Off to the doctor we would be going.
December arrived out of nowhere. My oh my, and we haven't even thought about Christmas! My birthday, Ashley's birthday! Ashley, my daughter turns 21 this year! Lunch was a must! Portland bound to meet up with my sister-in-law along with her sister, mother and grandmother! It was tradition to do lunch when one of us was having a birthday! Ashley and I chose the Cheesecake Factory! Yum! It was worth every penny! Great food, great service and best of all great company! Just the thing to brighten up Mom's spirit! Lunch with friends!
Mom then got a wild hair and decided that she needed to do quilts for each grandchild. So we called one of her best friends, Ann, over to help out. Because I know NOTHING about quilting. At least at this point I didn't. First was the quilt for Garrett, nickname; Squirrel. Quilting always cheered Mom up, and next to that was shopping; so off we went, shopping at the quilt shops!
We found the perfect fabric! It had squirrels all over it !So I was making a quilt too. Mom wanted plaids, greens and browns. Mom and I also picked out fabric for Amber's quilt and then David's. Ashley's and Daniel's colors were still undecided.
Mom had Ann and I put together the quilt and then she was off doing what she does best! Quilting!
Mom loved to embroider. She had two special sewing machines that do just that. Since my sis-n-law loved the Hummel Designs, she chose five of her favorites and that is what mom used in the quilt squares. Then she quilted squirrels and acorns around the edge and in the other blocks. It was perfect for baby Garrett! And made with love! This was the last item that Mom quilted on. Her hands were starting to cramp. ALS was rearing it's ugly head again.
The MDA has a special clinic for those with ALS. Mom became part of that program. She would meet with a team of doctors and other specialist that would keep track of her progress, or lack there of, and advise as to how to get the best out of her situation. It was amazing! We loved everyone there. Such great hearts in the men and women who met with us. Mom benefited from each visit. And they were able to use her case for the further study of ALS and its effects.
The doctor appointments came none too soon: braces for the legs and rehab to keep what muscles she had left in them working. Our life was getting full of trips to Springfield and Eugene, Corvallis and Albany. So many different people to see. We tried to keep everything upbeat. Took advantage of our time out. Did a little lunch out or would stop at a quilt shop. Just to keep the mood on the brighter side. Because the appointments were nothing more than depressing. (only in the information of how far she had digressed) She also started speech therapy. Swallowing was becoming an issue at dinnertime as mom started choking on her food more and more. Also a sign of the bulbar onset of ALS. We just couldn't get away of what was staring us in the face. It was attacking her all over, not just her legs. She even had a breathing test to see if, and how much of her lungs were effected. The results showed they had been. We had a tough couple of days after that one.
Time to think about Christmas again; the girls decorated the tree and everyone passed around the baby!
Christmas day was a good one. In fact the whole week was good. Mom was good. We laughed a lot and enjoyed the time with the whole family.
The new year was full of appointments and surgeries for skin cancer. Mom was to be a traveling woman! At the ALS Clinics they told us that she could plateau and live longer, she would just need the braces and other aids to help her out. We prayed for that to happen. Looking forward to 2012 we vowed to be positive and full of HOPE! Yes, attitude is everything and we were strong in heart, so we would prevail in spite of it all! Little did we know the road got narrower and darker and harder to travel.
I wish I had known all this then. I would have been there to talk to you. I know a little about body parts not functioning.
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