A Big Smile

Here's Mom on the beach, Jersey Shore, 2004.

I'm so thankful to have these extra services provided by the hospice agency... once per week, Mom gets a visit from a volunteer massage therapist and once per week, she gets visited by the pair of healing touch volunteers. The massage therapist came today for the 2nd time, with her tube of non-scented oil/lotion just for Mom. She stayed for almost an hour and a half, and when I walked in after she finished and asked Mom how the massage was, she was SO relaxed... and she made her "yes" sound, the one where her face is all relaxed... and a beautiful, relaxed smile spread across her face... the likes of which we haven't seen in the last few week it seems. It was so heart warming and just made me so thankful to have that kind of help that can come in and just provide an hour of feel-good, especially since it can feel like day in and day out, we're not really able to bring her that feeling. Most of the time, even if Mom is seeming OK, and she might just be lying in bed and watching TV or listening to music... if I walk up and ask her "are you OK?"... she'll usually shake her head "no". And OF COURSE she's not OK... but this was just such a nice smile, for just those few moments, she could feel OK, she could feel as good as she can feel. The therapist didn't want to skip next week, even with the holiday, since she feels like she's just getting to know Mom. I'm thankful for her dedication and for her volunteering her time in such a meaningful way.

Adam drove up last night in order to carry Mom up the stairs so she could have a "proper" shower. He wants to come every Wednesday as well as every weekend. What a lot of driving, takes him over an hour, I think he got here around 7:30pm last night. But it was a good shower... even the best bed bath can't come close to having hot water run over you to clean you.

We had our walk today, the wind wasn't blowing nearly as hard so it didn't feel as cold. Still waiting on the souped-up wheelchair before we attempt any longer walk. Right now we're just going around our long block, probably 1/2 mile or so. Even though Mom can't talk about it, I know she likes the walk, she's very clear to ask for it... we always know that's what she's asking for when she says "no" to going in her chair AND "no" to going to bed... that's how she tell us... she means "NO, offer me something else, I don't want either of those choices!"

We're not really watching movies like I thought we would... I think we went through all the ones I borrowed from the library, but they didn't really get watched... only played. Mostly, it seems that Mom prefers having her "soothing" music on to watching a movie. I don't think she has the focus or the attention or the comfort to be able to watch a whole movie. More and more she just likes the music. Mercy was trying to work the ipod the other day to get Mom's music back on, but she accidentally landed on "Dancing Queen"... That was definitely NOT what Mom wanted to listen to. I never knew my mother had such strong feelings against ABBA. They rock!