Mom's Memorial

WE had mom's memorial on December 12th 2008. We chose that date because Melissa and Chelsea were planning on coming out at that time and so everyone would be her to see them and we could just have the memorial at that time. It was a beautiful day. My brother Dennis made the urn for my mothers ashes and it came out very nice. He made it a little bigger than a normal urn so we could put her cats in with her. My mom wanted to be burried with her cats. She had those two cats for 15 plus years. Most of the family was in attendance. Many of mom's oldest and dearest friends were there as well. The service was nice but they cut us off so it was shorter than we planned. It was great to see so many friends and family.

Last Days

As mentioned before mom looked great and didn't look like anything was wrong. It was getting harder for her to breath. On Wednesday October 29th I had a hard time getting mom a wake. She was sleeping a bit more. She came out for a little breakfast. Dayna was here with me. Mom was talking about wired stuff and wanted to see her friend Charlotte. So I went to pick her up in the afternoon and the two of them were like two girls at a slumber party. They talked into the night. Charlotte was able to get mom to eat some applesauce. I guess during the night mom had a hard time getting up to go to the bathroom so we had the cam ode by her bed but that was hard for her too. We put a diaper on her as a precaution. The next morning mom tried to get up to go to the bathroom and she couldn't. We didn't have strength to help her. I told her to just go in the diaper. She cried. She didn't want to go in the diaper. We called the Hospice nurse and she came to evaluate mom. She told us she was dying. I couldn't believe it. She was just OK the day before. It happened so fast. They took mom back to the hospice facility. We called all family members as they didn't think she would make it though the night. I called Melissa to see if she could get out here. One thing mom wanted more than anything was to see Chelsea her Great grand baby. As we stayed by mom's side Melissa and Chelsea got on a plane and came to the hospital. At about 7 pm the nurse who was leaving her shift came in to say goodbye. She said she couldn't believe mom was still with us. She said " She must be waiting for someone?" I told her she was waiting for her great grand baby. Mom was pretty much out of it the whole time. Melissa and Chelsea got to the hospital about 9 pm. We told mom baby Chelsea was there and laid Chelsea by her side. I know mom knew Chelsea was there. She had a slight smile on her face. I was so grate full to the Lord for letting her see her grand baby. We also didn't want mom to die on Jeff's birthday. We kept telling her she needed to wait till midnight so it wouldn't be Jeff's birthday. Everyone left and Dayna and I stayed the night. Mom was out of it, mumbling every once in a while. We had to suction out her mouth as she kept foaming. Dayna and tried to sleep taking turns watching over mom. About 5:30 am I looked at mom and she looked so peaceful so I told Dayna we should go home and get some rest. We told mom good bye and we would be back. We got a call at about 11 am saying mom passed away. I just lost it. I wanted to be there for her. When we got to hospice we were so upset we were not there when mom died. They nurse on call said a lot of the time the person waits for the family to leave to pass. That brought some comfort. We were able to say our good byes. She looked as though she were just sleeping... very peaceful.

Coming Home to Sad news

Beverly Fleming- Loving mom and Grandma
After spending a great time with my new grand baby in Utah I came home September 11th. When I came home I found out my mom had pneumonia. She had it for the whole time I was gone to Utah and she was having a hard time breathing. I took her to see her doctor Tuesday Sept. 16th in the morning. The doctor agreed that mom needed oxygen and said from the chest x-ray that she still had pneumonia and wanted to change her antibiotic. After taking my mom home and getting her settled I got home about 3:30 pm. I get a call just after 4 pm from her asking me if I could take her to the hospital. The nurse that came to see her said she could not get her oxygen levels up. I drove her to the hospital and stayed till they were able to stabilize her. They admitted her about 8 pm. The next day they did a CT scan and mom called Dayna and I to come to the hospital to talk to the doctors. When we met with the doctors they told us that mom had Lung Cancer and for her to get her things in order. She didn't have long and to con cider Hospice home care. WOW what a blow. No warning... just hey you have cancer and you are going to die soon. Not knowing what to do next and the doctors telling us she would not be able to go home we talked to the Hospice people. Didn't really understand completely what was going on with that either. After talking at length with the guy from Hospice we were told mom could not go home and would be released to Hospice care. They released mom on Thursday the 18th to Hospice. They were suppose to release mom from the hospital at 7 pm and hospice to transport her to the facility. We drove to the facility and waited for mom to arrive. Well after waiting a while we found out that they didn't have transportation for her. They tried to call for another service to pick her up. When it got to be after 10 pm Dayna (my sister) and I went home and told them to call us when she got there. At 10:45 pm the hospital called and asked if mom was going to be picked up. I told them Hospice was taking care of it. I called hospice again and they told me the guy was on the way. I called mom and told her. After a long night she was finally taken to hospice home care facility. She stayed there for the weekend so they could get her stable. Dayna and I had to speak with the hospice social worker on Tuesday. After talking to him he said mom would never be able to go back to her home. What a shock! When you looked at mom you would never know anything was wrong with her except for her being on oxygen. I thought she could at least live at home with some help. I was wrong. The only solution was for her to come live at our house. Greg was in school and we had an extra room close to the bathroom and everything. Talk about a 180 in your life. The next thing I know they are moving in hospital beds, shower chairs, oxygen tanks, a wheelchair and walker. It is amazing how quickly your life can change. It took a bit to adjust to the situation. Like I said it wasn't like mom was bed ridden. She could move about the house as far as her oxygen cord would go. I asked the people at Hospice how long mom had left. They said 0 to 6 months but could not tell for sure. It depends on the person. Watching mom daily it seemed like we were in for the long hall. She had her appetite, she could get around but got out of breath easy. From the time mom was diagnosed with cancer till the day she died it was 7 weeks. We never had to go through the bad stuff and I think mom would have wanted it that way. Those 7 weeks were very busy ones as Dayna and I took turns caring for mom and we had to take care of her cats and apartment. It was tough but I'm glad I was able to be of service to her in those last weeks.

Chelsea's Blessing / Greg's Priesthood ordination

Greg ordained an Elder of the Church

(Men in Black.... Sexy)

Greg was ordained an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints August 31st 2008. This took place in Melissa and Brad's home as that is where the baby blessing was held due to Mel's condition. Greg wanted to be ordained an Elder before the blessing so he could take part in it. So before the blessing of Chelsea, Greg was ordained and Elder by his dad. Standing in the circle was his brother Jeff and Brad (brother-in-law) It was nice that we were able to this when the family was all there to participate, since they were all gathered for the blessing.

A Very Special Day

As stated in a previous blog, Melissa had to go back into the hospital to have the infection removed. We were getting a little worried as we had Chelsea's blessing planned for the 31st of August as that was a Holiday weekend and all family members could be there. Melissa was discharged from the hospital Saturday the 30th about 5 pm after Melissa told her doctor her whole family was there for the blessing of Chelsea and that it was to take place Sunday the next day. The doctor was very compensating by letting Melissa go home however she had to be on a IV antibiotic. She had to have this IV every 6 hours. We had to call a member of the Bishopric and explain the circumstances that Melissa can't go to church with her IV and that we had the blessing already planned. So we were able to have the blessing in Melissa and Brad's home filled with family and friends. It was a beautiful blessing. Mandy, Me and Jeff got to get Chelsea ready for this special event. She looked like an Angel. Brad gave a beautiful blessing. Melissa's friend Sara wrote down what was said in the blessing for Melissa to have. I thought that was very special. It was great to see so many old friends and visit with family too.

Yellowstone Nation Park/ 29th Wedding Anniversary

After spending some time with Melissa and the new baby we took some time to spend together for our 29th wedding Anniversary. We both had never seen Yellowstone National Park so we decided to take a drive and spend a few days touring the park. We stayed in a nice hotel just outside the park. We found this place that rents GPS navigational systems that also narrates what you are seeing. It was the greatest thing ever. It hooks up to your radio and as you drive it tells you what you are seeing and a little history of the area. It is better than a regular tour because you set your own pace and can stop when you want. We saw some beautiful country and lots of Bison (Ta-Tunk-Ka's) . There was one that was walking down the middle of the road, just taking it's sweat o'l time. The thing that amazed us the most was how the earth could have these hot spots. It would just steam from the ground. The guisers are fasinating to watch too. We saw Old Faithfull spout. We came upon a group of deer that was hanging around these houses in one of the towns we were driving through. We stoped to get some pictures. There must have been about 20 of them with bucks too. We didn't see any bears or cayotes, but we did catch a large Bull Elk in one of the fields. Cars had pulled over so we thought there must be something here. We got out and there was this huge Buck Elk. We got to hear his call as well. That was cool. We spent one day traveling to the Great Tee Tons. We dind't see everything but we saw a lot. We really enjoyed ourselfs. I'm sure we will go back again.

Steve and Greg coming to Utah

Steve and Greg drove up to Utah to visit Melissa and Chelsea before we had to take Greg to school at Dixie. Greg had a great time playing Uncle to Chelsea. He just thought he was all that and a bag of chips when he held her. He told everyone HE was going to be the favorite uncle. Steve had a Wii game sent to Melissa's house for my birthday as my gift. So Greg had a fun time playing Guitar Hero and teaching Chelsea how it's done. Greg had a good time playing Uncle. As most good things had to come to an end we had to take Greg down to Dixie in St. George to school. We drove down to St. George on Friday the 22nd and stayed the night. We got up early the next morning took Greg shopping for all his neccessities. (That cost a bundle) and got him settled in his new room at school.

I'm still waiting to get a picture of Greg in front of the Dixie College sign. He took one on his camera but never gave it to me.