A Fitting Final Gift From Jimmy Carter

[Snackshack]

38. Thank you.

I’ve thought this myself and what an amazing man he is.

Trigger warning:

My mom decided she was done with treatments for cancer Dec. 2003. “Quality over Quantity” she said. I disagreed but I was not in a place then to help financially as I could be now…which really sucks when I think too hard about it.

Her insurance told us they would pay for no more unless she came up with several thousands dollar because she had reached a limit someone (death panel?) had decided that was what her life was worth. This after refi of house and selling off almost all she could… by 0930 on 4/27/2004 she was dead and I probably would have been also if not for Hospice.

She left Mesa and went to Parker Az for her last days. We have been going there all my life had family there. The Hospice in that area was a lifesaver. I had not been a caregiver before and I was not prepared to watch my mother starve to death. Which in the end is what technically killed her. She had a DNR and NO feeding tubes specifically so she weighed all of 72.6lbs on that day in April.

~1 month before she passed she still able to get around on her own and we could get time together but the last 35-30 days was pure hell. She became bedridden and slow faded away. That was when Hospice stepped in a literally threw me a lifeline with a nurse who came by every day to check on her and me. I couldn’t stop the cancer from taking her but I could keep her in familiar surroundings, keep her lips moist (throat cancer and surgery had damaged her ability to do so) and do my best to help keep the pain at bay.

I could not have cared for my step-father or grandmother after this if not for Hospice support at that time. There is just no possible way I could have. I was so naïve about what was coming,… totally naïve.

Hospice is the only organization I donate to because of the miracle organization it is and when I pass if I have anything left of value I will also give to them. There is no way I could ever truly repay them or the wonderful nurse who came to that place and helped because they cared. I suggest to anyone who will listen to do the same.