In the Spirit of Family

Hi everyone,

Rebecca (aka Boswell) here.  Thank you all so much for your emails and blog comments to Mimi.  Some of you have received replies from her in the last couple of days. Sunday brought a harrowing trip to the emergency room to deal with unexpected and brutal head pain, combined with nausea and pretty much constant vomiting.  In the face of that recent challenge, Mimi has kept a strong interest in maintaining connections with her Kadampa family and all her friends around the world.  Please keep your messages coming - you can comment here, email Mimi directly or send messages to my email address rebecca-dot-lafond-at-gmail.com.

The excellent and expert care that Mimi received at the Swedish Ballard ER on Sunday contributed to a surprisingly pain-free, festive and fun Monday.  It was a day full of love and life.  Mimi's friend Kate is about halfway through her 10-day visit and has been providing invaluable support in the form of organizing, cleaning, shopping and attending to all kinds of tasks and decisions.  Yesterday was also punctuated with early visits from friends Liz and Gayle, then fly-bys from Ellen and Katherine.  Mimi has been having so much fun engaging her friends in conversation and jokes!  (One of her medications has the bonus side effect of making her very talkative, giving us the opportunity to enjoy her quirky, one-of-a-kind humor.)  One of Mimi's many passions is literature, and she has a wonderful collection of classic novels.  She's hoping that all of her friends and family who visit have an opportunity to look over her "please take" books and choose one or more that appeal to them.  (I heard that Katherine left with a few ;)  The evening was a festival of pure delight with delicious homemade gnocchi from Marie, accompanied by lovely music from Mel.  We were singing, reminiscing and enjoying the atmosphere of love and family, when Richard was inspired to play this song by Dar Williams.  "Let your love cover me / Like a pair of angel wings / You are my family / You are my family."  There were more than a few happy tears, please give the song a listen if you have a chance.  You might not have been here in person, but because your love for Mimi is so strong and present, you were definitely here in spirit.

Today started with a visit from Marsha who chatted with Mimi for a while then went out to the backyard with Richard to pick the abundance of greens that are taking over the garden.  Some of these fresh greens contributed to our lunch - yum!  The afternoon took on a business-like atmosphere, although there were still plenty of jokes - we were visited by an intake nurse from Providence Hospice.  Hospice is an amazing service and has many hidden good qualities.  It's meant for people with "life-limiting illnesses who are no longer seeking curative treatment" (quoted, not quite exactly, from the FAQs at the link above).  Many people think of hospice as applicable only during the final days of life, and only meant to keep the patient as comfortable as possible, but it's so much more than that.  Hospice provides weeks and even months of nursing support, hospital equipment and supplies delivered to the home, medications, doctor liaison services, home health aides, social services including end-of-life decision assistance, volunteer house-cleaners and errand-runners, and chaplain visits should the patient choose to have them.  It's a system of comprehensive support that allows the patient to direct, as much as possible, the circumstances surrounding their own death.  Hospice care is designed to make the death process as peaceful as possible for the dying person, which according to Buddhist practice, is crucial for the process of transference of consciousness.  Hospice also provides invaluable support and guidance to the friends and family of the patient - the compassion and love are shining right through the booklets and documents we received!  And, get this, hospice services are covered 100% by Medicare and by most private health care plans.  The support of hospice care is going to be such a blessing in the coming days and weeks.  The first delivery of supplies has already arrived at the front door.

The next few days will bring more visits with Seattle friends, Mimi's sister flying in from Florida accompanied by Richard's brother and sister-in-law, and Kadam Heather visiting from Portland.  What a loving extended family we have!  Thank you for being part of it.