Hard Times

Bruce and I spent this afternoon with his mom, at the hospital.

Just before Thanksgiving Margaret (Bruce's mother) spent 13 days in the hospital, when she was diagnosed with a lung disease called Bronchiolitis Obliterans. She was able to be home for Thanksgiving Day and seemed to be doing well enough, all things considered; she was pretty cheerful despite having to stay reclined and needing an oxygen machine.

But on December 16 she was having such a difficult time breathing that she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. She has been in the ICU since then. Mom has been declining rather than responding to treatments, and so last week they did some biopsies to see what else might be wrong. It looks as if she also has cancer. And on top of all that, last night she started having heart arrhythmia; at first we thought she'd had some minor heart attacks, but apparently it's not the same thing. On and off, throughout the day, her heart rhythm will be . . . not right.

Mom has had a tube in her throat, for a little over two weeks now, helping her to breathe; she needs to be fed by a tube that goes into her nose and clear down to her intestines. It's hard to see her lying in the hospital, with so many tubes and I.V's in her, and so many monitors all around. She is so weak and is having so much pain. She's been heavily sedated, but every now and then you can see by her expression that she is in pain. It is very sad.

I've been part of the North family for 25 years. Bruce's youngest sister, Amanda, was only five years old when we started dating; I feel like I've grown up with them and always been a part of their family. I really love Margaret. It's a hard time.