She took a turn for the worse last Thursday a few hours after Steve talked to her on the phone. Steve's older brother Jay lives in Virgina, so he hurried down to Florida. We have been talking to Jay on the phone every few hours since Friday.
Since she fell, Ruth has been in the hospital. A C-pap machine helped her breathe, but it made her miserable and she kept trying to take it off. Over the weekend Steve, Jay, and Ruth made decisions about what to do next. It was decided Ruth would go back to the retirement community where she lives and begin hospice care in the nursing home. Ruth isn't taking any more medications, and the dreaded C-Pap machine is gone. A few hours ago an ambulance arrived to take Ruth to the nursing home. I am waiting for Jay to call me with more information once they arrive.
Steve and I are planning on driving from Illinois to Florida in a few days to give Steve a chance to say goodbye to his mom in person. At the same time we are also waiting for the call. The one that starts with, "I'm sorry," and ends with my husband in tears. We have no way of knowing if we will be traveling for a last goodbye moment, or a memorial service. All we know is we're going to Florida soon. I'm doing my best to support Steve as he goes through this. It's been stressful.
I'm sad for Steve and his brother Jay. I'm also sad because my relationship with Ruth was complicated and I wish it wasn't. Now it will never be what I wish it could have been. This is a difficult time for all of us, but especially for Steve. I can't take Steve's pain away, but I can be with him and love him in it.
I won't be online much in the next few days. There is no internet access at the nursing home in Florida. It's so isolated there isn't cell service, either. Should I get a moment to go online, I'll update my blog then. Thanks for reading along. Your support means a lot to me.