april012

     In honor of Mother�s Day next month, I would like to hear your favorite memory of your mom! I would like to go ahead and share my memory this month because on the 8th of April my mom will have been gone for three years and the 17th of April would have been her 67th birthday.
      My favorite memory of my mom would have to be the smile she always had on her face when she held my boys. My boys were the only grandchildren that she got to see grow up from the time they were born up until the time she passed away.
      All of the pictures that I have of her with the boys, she is always wearing the biggest smile that I have ever seen on her face!
     I would also like to share with you something that I recently wrote:   Christmas and Mother�s Day are always a hard times of the year for me, as it is for anyone that has lost their mom.
      When I was a sophomore in high school (1986), I was taken out of my last period Biology class to be taken to the hospital where my mom was. She had lost a lot of blood and they found out that she had cervical cancer.
      Twenty-two radiation treatments two radiation plants later, my mom was deemed cancer "free." Her last radiation implant was right before Christmas that year, we picked her up from the hospital on Christmas Eve.
      After that, my mom tried to push me away as much as possible, telling me she need me to be independent in case anything ever happened to her. My other three siblings all decided to move out of the small town we live in. I chose, however, to stay. I am still glad I made that decision. My mom got to see only two of her grandchildren being raised from the time of their birth, to the time of her death. Those two boys were mine. The birth of my boys brought us closer together. Not only was she my mom, but she was my best friend.
      In the summer of 1996 we had mom rushed to the hospital, against her will, with jaundice. She was as yellow as a sunflower. After undergoing endoscopy, it was found that mom had a rare cancer. The cervical cancer she had exactly 10 years prior to this had broken off and settled in the biliary tree. She was diagnosed with mestatic cervical cancer and given six months to live.
      After finding out that horrifying news, my mom ended up going under the knife for a couple of surgeries. She had her biliary tree reworked so she could digest food, had her gallbladder out (the old fashioned way due to the cancer), and her last surgery was an ostomy - where they moved her small intestine from the right side of the stomach to the left side so she could continue to eat.
      I watched my mom as she went down hill. I helped my dad take care of her and my husband was very understanding during this time. What used to be a strong, active woman was now a frail, barely able to move lady.
      I did everything I could for my mom. I did her tube feedings, medication, potty duty, and gave her the final doses of medications before she passed away. My mom had a lot of faith and refused to give up to a time limit.
      On the morning of April 7th, 1998, I was awakened by a phone call at four a.m. in the morning, it was my dad telling me he needed me. I think God must have wanted to prepare me, because I went to sleep with the phone right by me and my clothes on just in case something happened.
      I went to my mom & dad's house to find my mom a mess, her frail body was shutting down. I would sit with her and stroke her hair as she was crying because she knew what was happening. She was embarrassed because she did not want me to see her that way.
We called the hospice nurses and they came in, telling my dad and I we had to make a decision - keep her at home or let her die in a hospital. We decided to keep her at home, that's what she had wanted.
      My mom died early the next morning, surrounded by my dad, myself, my best friend, my oldest sister and her daughter, and my sister who had flown in as soon as she found out what was happening.
      My mom died on April 8, 1998, nine days before her birthday. She weighed 67 pounds.
      Take time to tell your mom that you love her, trust me, she'll never get tired of hearing it. My mom will always be a big part of my life. Watching how her strong faith kept her alive to exceed her "time limit" that she said "Only God knows when I'm going to die!" has given me the faith to carry on my life even though a big part of my life is now gone.
     As you can see from this writing, my mom was a big impact on my life. I hope that sharing this with you, will help you reflect on your favorite memory of your mom. I guess in the end, I would have to say, I admired my mom for having such strong faith. I can only hope I follow in her footsteps.