She's at home now but hospice will treat you no matter where you are; nursing home, assisted living, etc. Their main thrust is your physical comfort which might include massage therapy, help taking showers, pain management(her biggest problem), they don't treat you in a manner that cures the issue at hand. It's an emotional existence for her, she's reached the point where she can do little more than move about the house with a walker. That's difficult for someone to accept when they're as independent as she was. In years past, when her daughter lived in West Palm she had no reservations about jumping into her little Lexus and hitting the road....calling me when she's almost there. Or, taking off to visit a sister in either Columbus, OH or Roanoke, VA.
She and her former husband moved here in 1980 after selling a couple businesses in Mt. Gilead, OH. At that time, TV cable service didn't go any further east than SR436 so they invested heavily and expanded service clear to the coast, at one time owned all the rights on US1 from Titusville to Cocoa. While they were expanding cable service it involved meeting with a lot of county regulators and attorneys along the way. According to her kids, watching their mom deal with these types was refreshing.....they told me she was a hard-nosed negotiator. I found out just what they meant when we went to buy a new car a few years ago, I got amused so just sat back and let her deal. Needless to say, we got a pretty nice deal.
After her husband was gone, why she married a poor broke down State employee a few years later is a mystery, I'm just glad she did. In the mean time, taking care of her and her needs is a rather big load at times but I consider it a privilege to do so.
