Thank You

There are many people who helped out over the last few weeks.

I want to thank the nursing staff of Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, including especially Barb, Malou(?), Soon, Rose, and several more whose names escape me but who were no less helpful. I appreciate all the time you spent taking care of my mother and explaining things to me.

Thanks also to my mother’s doctors, for doing what they could.

I especially want to thank one doctor, whose name also escapes me. She was an Indian woman from the pulmonology service who explained the advantages and disadvantages of putting my mother on a respirator. As a non-physician, making these kinds of decisions for my mother was like standing at a fork in the road and having to choose a path without knowing what lies in either direction. More than any other doctor, this kind and patient young woman drew us a map of what might lay ahead. I will be forever greatful for her guidance.

I also want to thank the kind people at St. Thomas Hospice—I remember the names Ellyn and Linda—for the kind and straightforward way they explained the dying process, and especially for making my mother comfortable at the end.

Thanks also to our friends Ken and Kelly and Charlie for taking care of my father while my wife and I were busy with so much else. Ken also gets credit for building the computer I’m using to stay in touch. Thanks also go out to Tom at the Home Instead senior care service for setting up some additional care for my dad on such short notice.

Thanks to Christie at the American Cremation Society, operating out of Rago Brothers funeral home, for taking care of all the final arrangements for a very reasonable price.

Thanks to all my mother’s friends who’ve said such nice things about her, and thanks to all of you readers who left us such kind words in your comments here and on my Facebook page.

Finally, I must thank my wife Love Ann for seeing me through all of this. She has been a source of comfort and strength without which I would have crumbled. I would especially like to thank her for taking over, without my having to ask, the task of notifying our friends and relatives. I’m not good at talking to people under the best of conditions, and contacting so many people about such a painful subject would have undone me.