Nearly Time...

This in from my dad this morning. Mom's time with us is nearly up.

Just to let you know how things are going. As I smsed you, Mom took leave of the house with tears on Sabbath morning. She was nonetheless in pretty good spirits once she was settled into her hospital bed.

Saturday night I thought I would have my first unbroken night's sleep in a month (I told Mom this was payback for the months of getting up at night to feed you kids). But at 11:45 the phone rang--it was Mom phoning from hospital. She sounded sad and scared and said, "Can you come? I think the time has come." Josie (my mom's brother's wife) and I went across, and I could see that she was not close to dying, but she was aggitated and confused. I told the nurse to give her something to calm her, and then took half an hour or so to settle her down and put her to sleep again.

I had a wedding on Sunday but went early to the hospital (Josie left for the airport, per kind favour of a church member at 7:15). Mom was very tired. Ever since then she has been drifting in and out of sleep--an outcome of liver failure. She is getting more and more sleepy. Soon she will fall asleep and not wake up. If you phone her, she may not answer. If I am there, I will pick up the phone and pass it to her and she will be good for about 3 minutes of talk. If no one is there to help her, she won't be able to pick it up herself. I am helping her most of the times to eat. She did feed herself yesterday evening.

She wants so badly to go now. She is ready to die, but death isn't ready for her. I have had to tell her a few times that it can't be hastened on, it must come at its own time.

Just keep us both in your prayers. It's a tough time for both of us.

Love
Dad