Happy New Year everyone! Believe it or not, it is me finally getting to write something for my blog. I will try to sum up what has been going on since my last entry. Of course I have been knitting. The problem is that I neglected to take pictures of the items that I knitted during December. Actually I may have a couple of photos to share but it will not be today. On December 3rd my Mother fell off of a ladder while trying to install a new ceiling light. I asked her why she was on the ladder since I offered to do it for her. My parents like to have their independence. Well, she broke her tailbone and is now in the healing process. I talked to my parents (both 85 this year) and suggested that they stay off of the ladders. I do believe that they learned a big lesson. My Mom has been hurting so much and unable to drive. I have been doing their grocery shopping and all other types of errands that she would normally be doing. It is funny because now they are feeling guilty because I am doing so much for them. So, I tell them that in order to maintain their independence they are going to have to stay off of ladders. They have agreed to this.
In early December my lovely best friend Donna Bradley became quite ill. She had been fighting cancer for some time. However, we got the news that she was terminal and that there were no other medical treatments that could be done. I spent as much time as I could with her. It was difficult as she was four hours away from me so I would go for a couple of days and then come back home. On December 11th she was in so much pain at home so her husband Dave took her to the hospital. They celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in the emergency room! Donna was admitted into the hospital where she was recieving three pints of blood and platletts. I went to the hospital on the 12th and stayed with her until she went home on the 14th. During her stay she was moved to ICU on her last night there. Fortunately I was able to get the doctor to give her higher doses of morphene to help with the pain and another pain medication to help inbetween morphene medication. It was pretty irritating because they didn't want her to get addicted to these drugs of all things. So, I spoke with the doctor in the hallway and they confirmed what I was telling them with the oncologist and then they decided that they needed to control her pain. It was so nice watching her rest one night. She was having a good dream because she was smiling. I hadn't seen a smile on her face for a very long time. Dave and her Mom came to take her home on the 14th. I gave her hugs and said my good byes to her. I knew when I walked out of the room it would be the last time I saw her alive. I cried all the way home. Donna called me on Friday the 16th and told me that she was not suffering and we shared some tender moments. She died on December 21st and her funeral service was held on December 24th. Dave called me the night before the service and asked me if I would talk. I told him it would be an honor and that I would. I am so glad that I accepted. Even though there were over 300 people in the church I felt calm. I talked about our lives together for the past 20+ years. I believe that Donna was helping me through this difficult time because I was able to talk for about 7 minutes (that is a long time in front of 300 people) and it was so healing for me. Dave and their three girls came up here on December 29th and stayed until January 1st. We had a bunch of tears, but we had some laughs as well. My husband and Dave are really good friends so it was just a good thing for all of us to be together for four days. I took the girls shopping for an entire day!!!!! Oh my gosh was I ever exhausted when we returned home and then we were having a small New Year's Eve party so fortunately Dave and Wally had done most of the preperations for that. During those four days we had thunder and rain non stop. It was the kind of weather that Donna loved. I didn't really knit as much as I normally would have but have started again. I promise that I will not go this long again between posting.