Yesterday, a Facebook “memory” popped up that made me giggle.

The “memory” was from several years ago about how one of my elderly female hospice patients was considering how to maneuver the stairs in her home.

She was as stubborn and feisty as they come.   When she first admitted to hospice, she was adamant that she and her daughter kept their long standing weekly lunch and nails date.  Their weekly dates continued for a couple of months until mom started her final decline and became too weak to get out of the house anymore.

It was at this point that her daughter requested a hospital bed was brought in to help her mom conserve energy and help her get in/out of bed.  When my patient saw the bed, she stated very (VERY) clearly and colorfully there was no way she was going to use that bed and demanded “get that bed out of here.  When I go to bed to die, it will be in my own bed!”  We couldn’t even get permission to leave the bed in the study for the time being.  So, the equipment company came and picked up the bed.

Which leads me back to the stairs.  My spitfire patient, is just standing there and staring at the staircase.  To which I offered, “your cane might help.”

“Aw, hell……”.  She proceeded up those stairs, took to her own bed and didn’t come down until the night she died.  Her tenacity, her steadfast determination to control what she could control at the end of her life still brings a smile to my face.  I kinda want to be like her.