Happy Birthday, Isabel!

On this 30th day of December

Happy Birthday, Isabel!

AND WITH JOY ON EVERY BIRTHDAY,
COUNT YOUR AGE BY FRIENDS NOT YEARS.

This greeting came to Mum with one of her birthday cards. It sums up
much of Mum's delight of the last week as she has enjoyed cards and
visitors and phone-calls on her speaker phone. Your messages about
your activities transport us to another place far beyond a too
familiar hospital room. Thank you!

As we anticipate a new year, Mum received another card...

AN OPTIMIST STAYS UP UNTIL MIDNIGHT TO SEE THE NEW YEAR IN.
A PESSIMIST STAYS UP TO MAKE SURE THE OLD YEAR LEAVES.

Whoever you are, wherever you are....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From Isabel and the Gang

Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends

As we discussed with Mum what greetings she wanted to share with friends and family, these are the words that came:  

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR MAIL.  MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

And on this Christmas Day, we include a Blessing as well:

May the eagerness of the shepherds,

the joy of the angels,

the perseverance of the Magi,

the faithfulness of Joseph and Mary,

and the peace of the Christ child

be yours this Christmas and always.

With love from Isabel -- and with help from Catherine, Nancy and Janet

LOVE and Gratitude

Hello Family and Friends

The fourth week of Advent marks the lighting of the fourth candle -- the LOVE candle. Two friends were part of reading the Advent Liturgy with Isabel for the fourth candle. 

As we consider the fourth candle in the Circle of Light, we continue to dwell in gratitude for the Gift of Love that has come in so many forms to Mum through people who love their work and how they serve the world, and those that show acts of love towards their family and friends. 

We are grateful for: 

* visitors -- neighbours,  friends, and nieces and nephews who converse with Mum about the questions that she helped identify on her Visitors' Discussion Board. (Have you signed the Visitors' Book?  What are you doing for the Christmas Season?  What's new in Abernethy? Will you have a chocolate? How is your family?)

* an English pen-pal whom Mum has never met but who writes every few weeks -- and whose gift of English currency means Mum now has a lovely small Christmas tree in her room

* a florist who heard about Mum and sent a bundle of fresh pine, spruce, and cedar so Mum could experience some of the smells of Christmas

* a particularly attentive nurse who introduced Mum to Paul Potts (the opera singer who won England's equivalent of Canadian Idol) by bringing her CD for Mum to listen to one Sunday. Check out "Paul Potts"  on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/  for a delightful story of overcoming difficulty to become a singing success.  (Once you get to the YouTube site, type "Paul Potts" into the Search function.  Check out the sequel, too!)

* the nurses who aren't assigned to work with Mum but drop in to find out whose names are on the visitors' board or to bring their children to meet Mum

* friends of Isabel who have never explored the Internet but now read the blog regularly (among other things!) through home computers or by going to the library

* your seasonal wishes winging across the miles by phone, email, and letter

* Isabel's love of people -- a gift developed over decades of being genuinely interested in every person she meets.  This includes the adventures of her caregivers and their families.

* Mum's positive attitude!  On the Saturday before Christmas Day, she wanted to pick out what clothes she would wear on the 25th.

Our hearts are full of gratitude.  

6F is a festive place these days with carollers at noon, decorations, the occasional Santa hat, and Christmas music and programs echoing through many rooms.  As we keep company with Mum during these days and walk through other parts of the hospital, we are keenly aware of other patients and family members who are also experiencing a holiday season that feels very different than usual.  Our hearts widen as we consider all whom are ill and/or are recovering during this season. 

Blessings of LOVE, HOPE, PEACE, and JOY,

Nancy, Janet and Catherine 

The Winter Solstice

Greetings on this Solstice Day!

This has been a good week!  Mum has been up in her chair in all her regalia for 3-4 hours each day ready to greet a surprise or planned visitor, or a nurse just stopping by on the way to some storage closet. Festive music is in the air and the mood on 6F is cheerful.

A friend from Abernethy visited this week and said: "Isabel - I look for the light in your bedroom window every morning.  When I see it come on, I imagine you waking up in Regina! I think of you every morning as the daylight comes!"

We have learned on this journey that prayer comes in many forms.

This is the time in the year in the northern hemisphere when we have the least daylight.  The winter solstice happened at 12:08 AM Central Standard Time on Saturday.  Today is "the tipping point". The earth now turns again toward the sun with the promise of longer days to come. Mum always revels in receiving the Sears Spring & Summer catalog and the first seed catalogs at this time of year.  It's a day when she loves to declare loudly, "At last -- the days are getting longer".   

We share some Winter Solstice words from one of the CDs that Isabel listened to this week:

"...Deep in the night, listen

listen

Turn to the light

waken, waken

Deep in the night turn to the light

Waken to Sun's ancient summons ~..."

from Carolyn McDade's "Born of a Star" on We Are the Land We Sing.

The Nature of JOY

Hello Family and Friends

It is the third week in Advent and along with the candles of HOPE and
PEACE, we light the candle of JOY.

We continue to be amazed, heartened, and full of HOPE as we consider
Mum's enduring capacity to find joy in her life. At a time when we
do not know Mum's long term prognosis and each day must be lived for
the moment, Mum continues to be engaged with the broader world around
her. This week her nods, head-shakes and mouthing of words were in
response to news about the Canadian dollar and commodity prices,
along with her usual inquiries about the lives of the families of her
nurses and visitors.

For many weeks this fall, Mum was unable to smile because of the
palsy in her face and particularly in her jaw. Her muscle tone in
her face is returning and once again Mum can give a huge smile that
can take your breath way. Everyone -- including the endless medical
staff who parade through her room -- receive her big grin. We are
amazed at Mum's ability to hang in with such spirit considering what
she has endured and continues to endure in this two-steps-forward,
one-and-three quarter-steps-backward struggle to recovery.

Mum is teaching us all that JOY is an emotion that arises from within
us and is not affected by the things that happen to us. It is a gift
of life found in the midst of gritty determination. The struggle of
the last four months has not taken away Mum's ability to find JOY as
she greets staff and visitors, delights in a new day that may be
better than yesterday, and receives her Christmas mail.

For this and more, we rejoice!

Catherine, Nancy, and Janet

Peace and Light

This is the week that we name the Candle of Advent Peace with Mum.
This past week a beautiful, cozy purple and gold prayer shawl or lap
blanket arrived in Isabel's room. It was lovingly hand-knit by a
friend of Mum's.

With the shawl came the words:

May the softness of this shawl cradle you in love.
May its warmth remind you that you are held in the tender keeping of
the Creator.
May its embrace speak to you of the promise of peace in the midst of
turmoil.
Woven into each stitch is a prayer for comfort, healing and peace.

On the third day of Hanukkah or the Festival of Lights, a family
friend arrived in the late afternoon to bring Mum a menorah (candle
holder with candles). Our friend talked with Mum about her extended
family's Jewish tradition and how they honour the eight evenings of
lighting candles at sundown. It has been heartening to imagine Mum's
menorah lit in her window of the 6th Floor of the Regina General
throughout this holiday season.

Peace and Light
With us
Each day and night.
May it be so with you.

Isabel's Open House

Hello Family and Friends

A new poster board of photos and Thank Yous hangs by the door in
Isabel's room.

On Friday, Mum hosted a seasonal Open House for the staff of 6F to
thank them for all their care. Mum was up in her wheelchair with a
big smile as a gracious host -- as she always is.

Twenty of the staff came by to greet Mum and enjoy home-made mince-
tarts and nuts 'n bolts, oranges and chocolates. Housekeeper,
Nurses, Physiotherapists, Doctor, Respiratory Therapist, Social
Worker, Ward Manager -- they were all there. Mum's respirator was
OFF throughout the party which means she was breathing on her OWN
with help from a little extra oxygen! Carols and conversation filled
the air.

All the staff who missed the party are checking out the photos and
list of guests on the wall.

Season's Greetings to all of you!

Deck the Halls!

Meg and John breezed into Grannie B's hospital room with all of their teenage energy to hang Mum's usual decorations from her home in Abernethy.  The walls drip with garlands and the windows are outlined in green and gold.  A large colourful ball hangs above her bed.  A nativity scene is found on one wall. Mum has a new Celtic Christmas CD, and we cranked up the bagpipe version of "Deck the Halls" during one slow day at the hospital. Those halls may never be the same.  Just wait 'til they hear the Hallelujah Chorus!

Today two friends of Mum's came to visit.  One brought a photo of herself with Mum's horse, Levi.  The photo is now on Mum's "Photos of Friends" Board.  Isabel's friend who had not seen her since September said, "You have made remarkable improvement considering where you were in September."  Mum was up in her chair with clothes and jewellery and newly styled hair and was full of smiles and nods.  Her friend said, "I believe that you WILL get out of this place."  Mum used her letter board and spelled out, "Cancel my bed!"

Later today, a Respiratory Therapist came by and said, "Isabel, you do not have four grey walls.  They are all decorated."  A housekeeper added, "Your room is one of the most interesting I see as you have so much neat stuff about your family and friends.  AND --  it is one of the most challenging when we have to do a deep clean because you have so much stuff!"

A decorated room stuffed with momentos of family and friends, and "remarkable improvement"  -- that's a good supply of HOPE for this first week in Advent. 

Advent HOPE

Hello Family and Friends

This is the week that people in our faith tradition light the first candle of the Advent Season. It is a season of waiting and promise, and it requires our trust to believe in the power of HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE sometimes amid great odds.  

Isabel has always had a circle of Advent candles on her table in December, and this year is no different.  This week, some family members shared an Advent litany with Mum even though we can't light candles in a room with extra oxygen!

We named the first candle of the circle as the candle of HOPE. 

HOPE came into Mum's room this week through six sets of visitors from her home 70 miles away at Abernethy.  These hardy folk braved a cold, snowy, windy week to bring light and laughter to Mum's room. 

As a result of their visits, there are three new plants and flowers in Mum's room. First came a red poinsetta from a friend who brings one to Mum each Christmas.  Next came a budding amaryllis which will burst forth in bloom before Christmas.  And finally, a lovely red rose set in purple Scottish heather.  Mum is enjoying each one of them.

Mum's marathon continues with HOPE and with uncertainty.  She has good days and not-so-good days amid her ever present determination and her love of visitors.  Each day challenges us to carry HOPE in our hearts and to live with patience. Each day calls us to believe in the power of HOPE to be born anew each day.

One of Mum's favourite poems is this first verse of an old poem by Emily Dickinson:

    "Hope" is the thing with feathers 

                          That perches in the soul 

                          And sings the tune without the words

                          And never stops -- at all.

With enduring Advent HOPE,

Catherine, Nancy, and Janet