So much going on

I haven't been able to write much since my mother fell ill in July from a uro-sepsis infection. It's been non-stop care for her until now, at last, things are slowing down and she has stabilized. The caring world around illness especially for seniors has been an education for me. I've also learned alot about Medicare, secondary providers, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and the symptoms and presentations of several new diagnosed illnesses, one after another presenting themselves to her new doctors as she fought for her life over the last few months. A wonderful seniors social worker introduced herself and her services to me when I was treading in the deep water of living facilities and Mom is now happily living in a small facility which is a wonderful house not far from me in a terrific neighborhood. She is saying good-by to her home care nurse who helped diagnose skin cancer and get her blood sugars down and stabilize her blood pressure. She has round the clock care just in case she crashes again. Her cardiologist is finishing up blood clot searches with a carotid ultrasound this month and it should be smooth sailing into the holidays ahead.

Somewhere I read earlier last summer about the death rattle. It happens just before expiration and that is what I witnessed in my mother this last July as she nearly bled out right in front of us at the ICU. 4 times she nearly died within 24 hours. I watched as teams of code blue professionals worked intensely to save her life, a life she was giving up on. Several times I received calls from the nursing home she went into after her hospital stay or frantic looks and conversations from her concerned roommate that she was taking a turn for the worse and would go back to the hospital. My months of end of summer August and September were on edge, never knowing what the phone ringing would mean. All plans for business expansion trips went on hold. I only lived a mile away so I could get there easily, the nursing facility was right across the street from Good Samaritan Hospital.

My family has had a couple of reunions between us, step-brothers and sisters to rally around for her (and me) and to help straighten out her home and yard. It is so wonderful that we all have a great sense of humor! She has finally decided she could live here in San Jose (it was too hot before) because, Wow! what wonderful people are here! My step-brother from Palm Springs is a real estate agent and has listed her property. We only need an estate sale now and to move a few belongings here.

So my lessons have been deep in caring for an aging parent. It had been so easy up to now, with traveling for business expansion to different parts of the Sanctuaries, going to museums in San Francisco, movies and cultural events in Carmel, and getting together for the holidays. Mom is an octogenarian, her mom was a centenarian and it was just unexpected that a catastrophic illness could knock her down so far. Accepting that and coming back maybe with less strength has been the big lesson for us all.

The one thing that has helped me throughout this ordeal and deep life lesson immersion besides the amazing care-givers, concerned family members, and new found friends has been the Sierra Club and their involvement in global warming issues. The activities and new found friends have buoyed me up through some very dark experiences. This organization has kept me in touch with my business needs and goals which had to go to a low-key level while I stayed on call for my mother. My blog will be devoted to issues around what I have been doing and what the Sierra Club is doing in terms of educating our population to global warming issues. The far reaching effects in lifestyle changes in my city of San Jose, my county of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley, in California, in the US and we are hoping for the whole world are taking place right in front of me.

Like almost losing my mother, slipping away slowly or dramatically in front of me was very close to how I felt about the condition of our environment in the world. I was almost at acceptance of a desolate future, one with no hope but only of watching the destruction coming on by our wasteful energy. I was giving up as well. But through so many good people that have come together with really quite simple ideas and a bond that we can change, I have renewed hope for the future of our world. That is how my holidays are beginning to look...as we experience the world darkening for winter, a wonderful new light is shining, in the forests, out at sea, in the cities, on ranches and farms, in the deserts, and from continent to continent. We need to listen and understand and please...believe. Don't give up hope!