My mom is to be moved to Hospice care tommorrow

With my mom at Blue Springs State Park...one of her favorite parks. She really loved the manatee's that would frequent the park. She campground hosted at this park and enjoyed it immensely.

With my mom this past fall at the Baltimore Marathon. We had girl's weekend out at this race and had lots of fun crashing at one of my co-workers house (thanks Cara) in Baltimore so we could explore the inner harbor. Although my mom didn't run, I think really enjoyed the energy of races and the positive feeling that runners and spectators share during marathons.

At Disney World several years ago around the holidays. My mom loved Disney World and like I, her favorite park was EPCOT, but she also enjoyed various aspects of the other parks including the shows, people watching and all the fun activities.

With Mom at Great Falls a few years ago during a drought. My mom was always up for sightseeing at a variety of state and national parks....in fact she frequently mentioned that she was on a 200 year plan to get to see all of them!

Two years ago my cousin got married in New York. The whole Wood family converged, so here is her younger brother, Peter on the left and Paul on the right...yup her parents named them Peter Paul and Margie:-) But this was before Peter, Paul and Mary, so I guess perhaps they should get a little kickback!

My mom had fun at this wedding because she met all sorts of nice people. She loved to meet new people because they all became defined as "friends"...I guess if you read my blog, you notice I have this same definition/naming strategy.


I thought the other day's conversation was hard. But I was way wrong...it is like saying mile 75 is tough in a 100 mile race. That is only a sneak preview. But ultimately the day ended with a bit of peace.

My mom's neurologist says she initially had a stroke on Tuesday morning with 55 mL of fluid (I think blood) observed within a CT scan. It has expanded over time to 75 mL. She is really not responsive and is basically not functional. I know she would not want a life like this. She would want to be on a hike, at a national park, enjoying a picnic or just goofing around.

My sister, aunt and I were able to have a teleconference to discuss plans. We decided no more testing, interventions or herioc resucitation efforts. This is what is clearly written in my mom's living will and what she always expressed as her desire to live a life fully and completely without regret and having seen and done as much as physically possible.

She was very famous for her "200 year plan". She wanted to visit all the countries national parks, state parks and other highlights. She did not accomplish this, but she did stay at many places as a camp host and/or volunteer. The National parks include: Yosemite, Yellowstone, Acadia, Everglades...and many state parks including Blue Springs (FL), Pocohontas (VA), Douthat (VA), Parker (TX), Toriah (FL). She really enjoyed the outdoors and was definitely a "people person", ready to befriend everybody!

She lived in a motor home and had a HUGE Ford F-150 truck which enabled these travels (I know because after her last stroke we drove down to Florida together--kind of like a college road trip except neither of us were in college).

When she moved from place to place she would explore locations on the way or off the beaten path. She has been to nearly every state in America. I think her only deficiency is Alaska since she did live in Hawaii before my sister or I were born.

In addition to her travels all over America, she also had several stints working at Disney World. She loved the premise of working at the "happiest place" on earth because she was always so happy. It was a place she fit in. She also is a bit goofy (kind of like the rest of our family), so again she fit right in!

While I know the decision to allow her to die peacefully in the way she wanted, is really hard (in fact I haven't really slept the last few nights). I know that she clearly expressed that she would never want to live a life in which she could not explore, meet new friends (because everyone is friend to her) and savor the journey of life.

My mom will be going to hospice care tommorrow. It is a bit unclear if she will be going to an inpatient hospice or if she will be going to my Aunt's house. In either case she will be with her cat, Pocohontas. My sister and I joked that she loved that cat more then us, but I think it might be true. It's okay, that cat pretty much spent every second of every day with my mom for the last 10+ years. I don't mind the cat being her #1 son/daughter (funny story, for the last 10 years my mom was told this cat was a girl, then last fall the cat was diagnosed with diabetes, had some scan and it was found the cat was a male!!! Either her veterinarians were a bit sloppy or my mom has a hemaphredic cat:-)

Finally, I think the following link provides a wonderful video on my friend Jamie Donaldsons blog that would really please my mom. My mom always wanted to see, do and experience life to the fullest and this video by Ultra Runner Matt Hart really captures this essence!

I will miss her so much. I hope she knows how much I love her.