Cycle of Life

I have been trying to think what title to give this little chapter. The past month has been one of the difficult things to live through in my life. My dear mother, Doris Kennington started feeling poorly and so my sister scheduled her for an appointment with the Dr. who in turn ordered tests. She was admitted to the hospital and they ran an upper and lower G.I. test along with a cat scan. They discovered a very large peptic ulcer which is usually very treatable. However the treatment nearly killed our dear little mother resulting in yet another hospitalization lasting 8 days. To make this concise, they discovered she had both a bladder infection and kidney infection, she has a scattering of blood clots in her lungs, a very large deep vein thrombosis blood clot in her left leg, two cists on her liver, a deep rattling cough in her chest and the result of all this is that she probably will not survive. She has been gravely ill for the past three weeks and has not been eating or drinking to regain strength and has been in intense pain. I guess she has run out of strength to fight any more.

These past weeks have made us all evaluate her and her life and celebrate who she is. We are so grateful we had a nice birthday celebration for her in August of 2007. We also had the biggest thanksgiving group we’ve had in years for her at her house in November of 2007. The house was filled with 2 daughters and a son and numerous grand children, great grandchildren and some very young great-great grandchildren. It was noisy, boisterous and fun. She was quiet but very happy.

So how do you let go of someone who has been such a blessed part of your life for so many years? Gratefully, those of us who know Jesus depend on Him to show us the way. We now want His peace and comfort for her above all else. We don’t want to let her go but we don’t want her to suffer anymore. Each of her seven living children have been able to come and see her and tell her of their love for her before she goes. Some of the grandkids and their families have come by to see her before she goes and yet others don’t want to see her in the shape she is in now but choose to remember the recent good times. I go by everyday several times a day because I want her to know I love and cherish her and I want to see if I can help make her more comfortable. It is hard and breaks your heart but it part of the cycle of life.