Taking to Her Bed

The sixth installment in my series about taking care of my sister Mary Claire in hospice.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Mary Claire is now unable to get out of bed. Little did I know when I put her to bed last night that we had seen the last day she would be mobile. The hospice nurse told us today that we should not move her now. She’s not capable of walking. She’s also having difficulty swallowing her pills. After trying mixing the crushed pills in grape jelly and that not working as well as I had hoped, I tried chocolate whipped cream. Success! She loved it. The only caution is that you simply cannot lick any that accidentally gets on your fingers. I almost did that automatically (I love chocolate), but stopped myself just in time.

Today I contacted our extended family and a few family friends to let them know the state of affairs here after a ‘friend’ of MC’s went on Facebook and announced that she only had two weeks to live. I was not happy when I woke up this morning and saw that post. But Julia immediately reached out to someone she knows who promptly dealt with the issue. Gratefully, MC is now past the point where she can use her phone to check Facebook. We have removed the iPhone from her room and have with us though just in case.

Jane arrived early this evening. Though MC had asked me today when she was coming, MC had forgotten Jane was coming until Jane went into her room. Which led to a funny Chesnutt sister moment: Jane was explaining to Mary Claire that she would have been here sooner, but that she had been sick with a cold and fever and knew that Julia wouldn’t let her in the door while she was sick. A long pause, then MC said, “Bitch.” And yes. We loved it.

It is a relief having Jane here. I had been worried about her getting here in time. And together the three of us will see MC and each other through this. Originally my plan had been to go home once Jane got here and return in a week. But it is very clear that I cannot go. Both for Mary Claire’s sake and for mine.