Thursday, February 15, 2007

Irony

We enjoyed our workout at Vital Step this morning. There are so many nice folks there working out alongside you - sharing stories and talking about the weather. Most of them are there because of some kind of past injury or heart problem, and most of them are in their sixties and seventies. They come to stay flexible and strong, and to get their hearts beating.

In the afternoon, we went to the hospital where my Aunt Ruth (age 89) is on oxygen and morphine, and appears to be at the end of her life. She is totally unaware and unresponsive.

After that visit, we went to Bortz where Mother (age 98) is on oxygen and appears to be at the end of her life. Mom is weaker and less responsive than I have seen her for the past two weeks.

These two lovely ladies are both in such a sad condition that one can only hope that they don't linger long. Neither one of them during their lives would have wanted things to end this way - to be totally dependent upon others for everything.

Is this what lies ahead for all of the kind folks at Vital Step, including us? Are we all strengthening our bodies and hearts so that we can lie longer in a nursing home bed unaware of our surroundings? How ironic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ruth had a surge of lucidity and was joyous with Mary, Susan, my Mary, Todd, Stacey, Fritz(baby) and Emily yesterday. Rick