In the past, I have posted some of the antics we have gone through during the covid menace and other times. Just thought I would stop in and divest myself for a few minutes. Just as a reference, my mate's has been poorly for a long time. We managed to hold together for that long time.

Around thanksgiving in 2024, she started into one of her cycles. She felt she had to make it through the holidays to see as many of the kids (ours and the ones we raised or adopted), grandkids, and great grandkids. I have lost count, but 27 or 28 sounds right. Just after Christmas, I had to take her to the E.R. and they admitted her.

This started what I am calling the great shuffle. Over the next ten months she rotated through 6 stays at St. Vincents Hosp., one stay at Community Hosp. East, and 6 or 7 locally at Hancock Regional Hosp . There where we live. When she was not actually an in-patient, she was a resident at one of the. Local nursing home. During all this they decided she needed three. different surgeries and one of the idiots decided she needed a blood thinner, without stopping the one she was already on. During this 10 months, she wound up needing 8 blood transfusions because she was bleeding internally on top of everything else. This also required swallow the laser camera 10 times. They never got to do the needed surgery on her destroyed rotator cuff, they were only able to do half of a suggested surgery for a delicate op to go from the stomach over to the liver and where her gall bladder used to be. I Know she had 3 or 4 falls causing injury during all this, and they I thought she may have had 2 minor strokes. Then in early October she went in ,for resp. distress They g.ot it under control again, and worked on the fluid build up around her heart (heart failure) and then back to the nursing home. A couple of weeks later I had to load her up and take. Her back to ER. They again admitted her, treated her, and they thought she was improving. Visits from the family and a couple of friends seemed to help. About the 15th of November, she worsened, and started screaming for help cause she couldn't breathe. This attracted the nurse staff and they got doctors up there, so I backed off to watch. She was still fighting and crying and screaming when she dropped still, in the bed. Many faces later and a brain scan revealed a massive stroke in the center of the brain. She was able to mumble and seemed to recognize me, so I was able to get a lot of the family in, then she went unresponsive. I held vigil and late on November 23rd. she started deteriorating slowly until she stopped.

It has been a bit of a circus, but life goes on. I haven't got all the final bills yet, and they haven't sent any recently, but the insurance statement from the big hospital showed numbers just shy of a million dollars alone.

I still wake up planning what I am going to need to do for her and I woke up in the middle of the night the other day cause I heard her calling me for help to get up and to the bathroom. Old habits die hard, I guess. I gathered up all her meds here at home and took them to my doctor's office. They work with some clinic in Central/So. America, so they were happy to get them to send down there. I guess those hurricanes hit those islands and devastated them, wiping one almost clean. She had 17 or 18 meds, all at about a 3 month supply. I hope they help.

Well, I guess I'm done for now. Just needed to write ✍️ this down. See you later