Robert and Pearl meet again

June 4, 1924 to May 19, 2010

It's hard to believe that this smiley picture was taken not even two weeks ago, and when I last wrote, we were expecting Mom to be moved to Edmonton for an indefinite period of time for treatment and palliative care.

On Monday, May 17th, Michelle called me to say that Jo had messaged her about going to Edson right away. We figured something must be up, so I checked my email and Evonne had emailed that we should call her or Terry right away. Mom had taken a sudden turn and was not expected to live through the day. Michelle and I left work, jumped in the car and made it to Edson at about 4:30, along with most of my siblings and some of their kids. Mom was very agitated and drugged, but didn't seem to be in as much pain as before, and progressively over Monday and Tuesday she worsened. By Wednesday morning she was gone.

It's so hard to believe that just one month ago she was living at home by herself. When she was admitted to the hospital mid-April no one could have guessed that she would never come home. It is, certainly, a good thing that her pain and the process of dying didn't drag on for months and months. She was ready to go, and I guess her body was, too.

It's going to take awhile to absorb the concept that we will not see her anymore.

Trip to See Great Grandma

It's wonderful to have Spring back in our lives. May is such a welcome month! We have beautiful weather and everything is so green and pretty. This year, however, our happiness is overshadowed by the sad news in April that my Mum is suffering from cancer.

She has been having just an awful time with pain for several months and has been in hospital since mid-April. Michelle and I were out to see her in Edson in April and Nyckee and I took the kids out last weekend. It just feels like I need to be there, but it's such a long drive that we can't realistically go more than every couple of weekends.

This past week, Mum was taken by ambulance to Edmonton for further tests. The needle biopsy, unfortunately, revealed that the cancer has spread to her bones and adrenal glands. It seems as though the bone cancer is the likely source of her pain, and they will be treating her with radiation at the clinic in Edmonton to see if that will alleviate the pain somewhat. Then it sounds as though palliative care is the next step. It's so hard to see her hurting so much -- she is still so bright, other than when she's on heavy meds, and it must be so much for her to take in all this sad news. The one positive thing about her being treated in Edmonton is that she will be closer for most of us to go visit her.

Anyway, sad times here these days, and sadder times yet to come.