Mr. AOW Has Gone Home

On March 4, Mr. AOW (1949-2021) passed peacefully at the hospice facility: end stage renal failure with complications.  His passing was expected the past ten days or so.  He was at the hospice for eight and one-half days.

I was on my way to the hospice for my morning visit with him when I got the phone call.  

The hospice didn't see the usual signs in advance in order to summon me.  Just as well.  Mr. AOW and I decided years ago that I shouldn't sit bedside for the end.  

One moment, he was cracking a joke.  The next moment, he was gone.

While Mr. AOW was at the hospice for that brief time, he had more visitors and phone calls than he'd had in eleven and one-half here at home under post-stroke care.  What an irony!

I am grateful for the excellent care my husband received at the hospice.  This is what end-of-life care should be!  I'm also grateful that Mr. AOW was lucid right up to the very end.

Goodbye, Mom

Mom (1920-2015) and Dad (1918-1979)

Mom died yesterday at the age of 95. Alzheimer's Disease, which stole her from us many, many years ago.

Mom had been in a care facility for over 5 years - about the same time that I got out of the nursing home, which I needed for weeks after my stroke.

I'm unable to make the trip for the funeral.

I hope to get a family member to put flowers on her grave. Mom loved flowers so much, and there should be flowers on her grave.

Classic comedy

In honor of football season:


Andy Griffith was distantly related to Mrs. AOW.  They never got along, though. Something about an ancient family feud generations ago.

There's a first time for everything

Mrs. AOW has gotten sick and tired of giving me manicures and pedicures. She's no good at it, anyway.  Hell, she won't even fool around with her own nails - much less mine!

Today, we're off to the nail spa for the first time for either of us. I hope that I can get into that pedicure chair!  I need a pedicure more than I need a manicure.

Mrs. AOW is going to let them experiment on me before she lets them do her nails.   At least the place she has picked has a great reputation.

9/11

I have not forgotten.

Have most Americans forgotten?

I hope that we don't get hit again today.   Or any day.

Man-cave access at last!

The local American Legion, veterans helping veterans, built me a wheelchair ramp so that I can get back into The Little House, which I used as my man cave.

I had my stroke there on September 15, 2009.

At last I can get back inside my man cave!

Mrs. AOW took these photos:

The reality

I hope that it doesn't come to that last one.

Actually, I've already been there but graduated to a mobility scooter.

I love my scooter.

But it has its drawbacks.

Yesterday I went out on my own on a little adventure down the bike trail. I decided to cross the bridge into the park. Damn. There was a dropoff, and I got stuck there. Mrs. AOW had to come to help me out of that rut. She couldn't lift the scooter, but she flagged down some people on the main part of the trail, and they got me up and running again. On my next trip out on the trail, I'll have to me more careful and watch where I'm going!

I got home long before Mrs. AOW did.  She had to hoof it, but I was zooming along back on the bike trail.

Smart cat!

One of Mrs. AOW's Facebook finds:


We once had a white cat a lot like the one in the video. She was the smartest cat ever!

Ferguson...

What would ISIS do?

THIS!

Our scooterway and grill area

Decorate A Vet built this for us last year:

Mrs. AOW took the above photo just as the workers finished the surface area.

I'm enjoying being able to access the grill again!  We're planning to grill again this week, and I do all the grill food on my own.

I like being able to help Mrs. AOW with preparing meals.