She also had a colostomy. That in itself was bad enough. One day as I was doing her daily care with bath, bed change etc, she wanted her colostomy changed. ( colostomy is a surgical opening in the bowel so it can drain fecal material in a bag on the outside of the lower abdomen) She said can you smell the awful odor of the medication in my stools? Well if any of you know me well enough, I sometimes say things that I should think about it before saying it. I told her no I can't smell the medication and that it just smells like sh_t to me. She laughed so hard the bed actually shook.

In a few days she went into a coma. We finally got a hold of her family and told them that the end was near. They all came storming into the room yelling that it was our fault that their mother was dying. You could not get them to understand that their mother's condition had nothing to do with her care. They were on some whalloping guilt trip.

They denied getting any phone messages. A few days later the patient died in her sleep ( or coma). She went so peacefully. Her face seemed to radiate the spirits around her. I felt that my life was enriched just knowing this sad little lady and even if my mouth said something that I was thinking, at least I got to hear her laugh.