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Wednesday, September 10

I cried all the way to the hospital. Actually, she had lost herself.

She was sleeping when I first got to the hospital, but then she woke up. “Who are you?”

“I’m Janis. I’m your daughter.”

“Who ARE you?”

“You’re my mama.”

“Who’s MY mama?”

“Mattie was your mama.”

“Where is she?”

“She died.”

I shouldn’t have said that! A look of hoor and pain crossed her face. She had found her mama and lost her all at once.

“Where WERE you?” she demanded.

“I went home for a little while.”

“Can she go home with you?”

“You mean YOU? Do you want to go home with me?”

“OK,” she said and smiled!

“OK, it’s settled then. I’ll call Jerry. We will talk to the doctor and then we’ll take you home with us.”

She smiles and closes her eyes.

Later, while we waited, we looked at some photos on the iPhone. I don’t know why she could see them today but not yesterday.

"Who's that? Did he get something to eat!"

Sometimes she would remember someone if we talked a while about

The nurse came in and told us they had received the report. The MRI said Mother had had a stroke. We were pretty much sure of that anyway. So this had nothing to do with the congestive heart failure or the uterine cancer.

:Since she doesn't remember anything, especially that she told me she would never live with me and be a burden, I asked her if she wanted to come and live with me. She said OK,” I told the nurse.

We both smiled. The nurse said, “You can tell the doctor that when he comes.”

Doctor Rader released her. They wheeled her downstairs, and Jerry came and picked us up. He took me to the Y to pick up my car and we brought her into our house together. She had no idea where she was. We put her down in our bed.

Within an hour Hospice had brought a bed and a potty chair and an oxygen tank to our house. We shoved the furniture in the home office all to one side, and, voila, here she is for the duration. She seems pretty serene about it. She is about like a ten-month old child mentally and physically, but she's a good little girl, anxious to please.