Wed., Jan. 26 for MVM

[OrchidCactus]

Ok, I know it's early to start the thread, but don't know what the upcoming day will hold.

Thanks y'all for your thoughts and prayers.....we greatly appreciate your support! MIL has definitely ended any and all treatments except for pain meds (morphine), and most likely will be gone in just a few days. DH and I are fine with her decision to not recieve treatment, would probably do the same thing ourselves. Up until November when she was in the hospital with double pneumonia, she was doing pretty well. During her hospital stay, they found a host of medical problems including diabetes, COPD, some spots on her lungs, and various other infections etc. After leaving the hospital and subsequent nursing home transitional care, she got to be at home for a couple weeks before being re-admitted to the hospital where they discovered her kidneys were shutting down and the dialysis was required. They also found a fairly rare disease (not sure of the spelling, so description will have to suffice) in which her veins and arteries were inflammed, caused by production of antigens from the glands above her kidneys. The treatment for this is cytoxin (chemo med) and the one dose of that made her very sick. I think that's what made her decide to call it quits, as she could no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last night she had an episode where her BP dropped severly and stayed low. She refused to have that checked out, but the guestimation is an aneurism of some kind in her body, and bleeding internally. I believe the morphine is taking care of the pain, and she will most likely fall asleep and pass on quietly.

I will remember her as a wonderful lady who was fun to be around, had a great sense of humor, and was always so happy to visit here or see us when we went up north. She and my mother got along very well, and she was so very concerned about Mom when Mom started acting strange (start of Alzheimer's). She was an excellent grandmother to her grankids and great-grandkids, the kind of g-ma I would have really enjoyed. We had a very good relationship, and she never imposed herself on us, nor did she do the 'mother-in-law thing' that so many people experience. We will certainly miss her, but when she goes, we know she'll be in a much better place!

We are now waiting for the phone call.

To all, peace and contentment.....will keep y'all posted as I know more.

[zip2play]

Good morning Ginny.

Thanks for filling us in on the details of your MIL'S condition. I wish you and your husband well in the coming week.
I think it's the kind of decision I'll make for myself when the time comes.
Once there is no hope for a future with some healing, why prolong the inevitable for a couple months of pain and torment?

Try to spend as much time with her as possible...it will be rewarding for you.

[BarbCO]

Thanks Ginny for sharing the good things you remember!!

How far away are you? I'm with Loretta and want to be able to make those decisions for myself when it's time.

Barb

[LoveMontana]

Ginny,
What a wise and wonderful woman your MIL must be. Prolonging the inevitable would only cause her and her family unnecessary pain.

Please know that you and your DH are in our thoughts and prayers.

[zip2play]

I anyone is interesten in reading how Kefir was introduced into Western Culture:

Kefir grains were considered a gift from Allah among the Moslem tribes-people of the Northern Caucasus Mountains. Kefir, which is the milk cultured with such probiotic-jewels, has been credited with healing powers since the early eighteenth century. Kefir grains were passed from generation to generation among the tribes-people of Caucasus. These folks considered kefir grains a source of family and tribal wealth, and closely guarded the secret process of kefir, to the extend in protecting the art and the mother-culture-matrix, the kefir grains, with their very lives.

In the early 1900's, two Blandovs brothers who owned cheese factories in the northern Caucasus Mountains, were contacted for help in obtaining the kefir culture by the All-Russian Physicians' Society. The brothers decided to take up the challenge, and came up with an idea to use a beautiful young woman named Irina Sakharova, to coax a Caucasian prince named Bek-Mirza Barchorov into giving her some kefir grains. Irina indeed dazzled the prince with her beauty, but the prince refused to give her any of his precious living probiotic-jewels.

The prince wasn't willing to giving up Irina either, so as she was returning home, he organized to have her kidnapped by some of his men. Against her will, they brought Irina back to the prince's court, where the prince, hoping to win her love, proposed her hand in marriage. But Irina refused. The Blandovs, whom Irene worked for at their cheese-making factory, eventually rescued her. Then, backed by the two brothers, she brought her case against the prince to the Tzar's court.

The prince offered Irina gold and jewels as reparation for the crimes done against her, but she refused the offer. Instead, as a settlement of her suit against Prince Bek-Mirza Barchorov, Irina demanded, and received, probiotic jewels [Kefir grains] instead!

In late 1908, Irina Sakharova brought the first kefir to Moscow where it was used medicinally with great success. At the age of 85, Irina in 1973 received a letter from the Minister of the Food Industry of the former USSR, expressing grateful acknowledgment of her primary role in bringing kefir to the Russian people.

[Jewels]

Ginny, we are all so sorry about your MIL but she had a good life. If only we could make the best decision for us when the time comes. I just hope she will pass comfortable and peacefully. Ginny, hope you and DH can find peace in the waiting. Thats the hardest. I sat at my MIL bedside for 2 whole weeks just waiting so I know the heartache. Know you're friends are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.