We pray for his safety and his health and his peacefulness…
And in the end, God’s timing is always perfect.
Our family couldn’t have orchestrated any better timing to call a meeting … it was clear to needed to sit down to talk through his physical/health needs and plans for future inevitabilities. The medical social worker knew it was time to call that … but we think it was God’s doing.
The bed sores on his feet have worsened. His mental state is declining. His physical abilities are diminishing. He needs an elevated level of care… he needs a knowledge base that we don’t have.
The timing on all of this was perfect… our family couldn’t battle this one out on our own any longer. We are happy that the medical professionals, who have walked this path before, are coming along side us to be the caregivers… for our entire family. We are sad to see him decline. But we are relieved to have help.
And I believe we are also ready to give him one more kiss and tell him one more time “I love you”… and to wait for him to turn, look at us and utter “I love you, too.”
One person, even two people cannot take care of an Alzheimer’s patient on their own. It takes a team, a whole team of people to support and encourage each other, to help with ordering medical supplies, dealing with insurance approvals, tending to the emotional needs of the patient and the family members, to reminisce with each other over this long loss of life.
A note on Alzheimer’s…
For some people it could start and end within a year.
For other families it could take over a decade to watch this decline.
There is simply no time line for this disease to break down the body and the brain.
So we hold on to each day, each moment, each memory as if it is our last. Because you never know if it will be…
And somehow, God’s timing is still perfect. He is preparing the hearts of our family members, getting our hearts ready to say ‘goodbye’ and preparing for a future without our loved one.
God knows… He always knows the perfect timing.
Lori J. Tisdale 