P.S................................

You may or may not remember my post (July 2, 2006) about a day in the life of one of our resident's; feel free to stop reading this and refresh your memory. The important thing to remember is that she LOVED to be pampered and well groomed. Why is this important? Keep reading and you will see......

The resident that I wrote about passed away yesterday. She had been declining, but she was not showing all the signs that her time was that close. Yesterday, the Hospice aide came to give her a bed bath, and brought with her this really cool "shampoo cap" that allowed the resident to have her hair washed in bed. After the resident was cleaned and lotioned from head to toe, I rolled her hair and put on her perfume. Even though she really wasn't talking any longer I could sense her appreciation for this care.

The nurse arrived to check her out medically, and agreed that she was in the active stages of dying, but death did not apprear imminent. I called her son and gave him a report and after the nurse went, I went in took out her rollers, fixed her hair and make-up, and gave her a splash more of her favorite Channel #5 perfume. She looked very at peace, and very comfortable, even with an oxygen tube in her nose.

After I got her settled, I gathered up the stuff to clean my youngest's knee wound that she sustained during a wipe-out at cross country practice. I had to make two trips from the closet to the sofa (a distance of about twelve feet) because I forgot to grab something, but still this took less than a minute. I sat down and removed the old dressing (maybe another thirty seconds) and somthing told me to check on the resident before beginning. I went into her room, and she did not appear to be breathing. (When I had left the room a couple of minutes prior, you could hear her breathing, as well as see her chest moving as breathing had become an effort for her.) I checked for a pulse, could find none, nor hear a heart beat with a stethescope. She had gone home.

There is no way to say for certain that she was waiting to have her hair done before passing, or that she wanted to hurry up and go meet Jesus while she looked good. AND please don't think I am making light of any of this; I find it truly amazing! I just feel, that for whatever reason, she picked the exact time of her death, and was totally in charge of her ending. Not that I disbelieve that God is fully in charge of the plan for our lives, but that within that plan he has given us free-will choice, and this is what she was exercising with her timing yesterday. What are your thoughts on this subject?

I know I have said it before, but I feel fortunate to have been a part of this sacred time in a person's life, and blessed that I have been given the ability and support to care for others in this transitional part of life. I use the words transitional because I fully believe that while death is an ending of sorts, it is really just a beginning of the next stage of our lives. I would love to hear your thoughts on that idea as well.