giving thanks...

It is only when I look at how much writing I am able to generate on this blog when it is not the middle of the quarter that I realize how much I am actually doing during the quarter.

That is to say, I feel a little sad that this blog is so spotty, but I reassure myself that anything is more than you read here is more than you would know otherwise...

So this week I have a few days off from class for Thanksgiving and I am also feeling the need to write to give you all a sense of how things are now...

Mostly I just want you to know that grandma is the same as ever but slower.
She doesn't have new symptoms (in fact she's been so stable that she is off hospice for now--she is enrolled in palliative care instead, which is nearly the same but without the housekeeping and the nurse comes every other week instead of every week), she seems as cheerful as ever, but she is sleeping more and more. She still gets up and makes her breakfast every day but she does it at eight or nine instead of six or seven. And then she goes back to bed and sleeps for several more hours. She is sleeping more and more, really. She goes to bed earlier and naps in her bed instead of her chair. She no longer seems to want to make her bed because she spends a lot more time there. She still loves visitors, but they seem to tire her out more than they used to. When Norma was here visiting a couple of weeks ago, she commented that the most notable difference was how easily grandma seems to tire.

She seems happy and fine, but slower and slower, and although it's hard to tell because we see her every day, it really seems as though things have changed over the last few weeks. In a difficult to define kind of way, she seems to be receding, quieting--herself as much as ever, but in a way that is less automatic. Our focus is to keep her quality of life as good as it can be. I am not worried, but I am beginning to think that it is possible that this is the beginning of the end. On the other hand, she has lived a long, robust, resilient, surprising life, and really, there is just no telling.

We are looking forward to spending sometime on Vashon this weekend for Thanksgiving and to Mike's visit in a couple weeks, and we are really looking forward to everyone coming in January.

Be well.

Ariel