Hello, before I tell you one thing, I want to tell you another thing! Here are some of the things my mother and I have done these past few days:

* While I loaded the dishwasher (poorly, I might add and not up to snuff according to my mother!), my mom unloaded the dishwasher.

*She also rolled and baked some sugar cookies.

*She tutored her two favorite children--Charlotte and Coco--for two hours on Tuesday and two hours on Wednesday.

*She made a yummy smoked trout dip and got out her crystal dish and arranged the crackers in a way that I have never been able to arrange crackers!

*She walked 3/4 of a mile with her caregiver.

*She went to church and used only a cane and on most days forgets that her cane is nearby.

*She woke up at 7 am yesterday and stayed up until 10 pm and forgot to take a nap. 

*And...she enrolled in hospice on Sunday.

What happened? asked one of her friends. Is she okay? asked another. But she was doing so well? said one  health care provider. Oh no. Already? She looked so good last week, said someone else. Hospice, you whisper! And to those whisperers, I say, YES! HOSPICE!

And to each of them and each of you I say: Yes, our mother is doing fabulous, thank you for asking. 

I want to normalize hospice for all of us and remove the stigma of what hospice once was. If you think hospice is for only when you are on your last breath, when you need to crawl into a hospital bed, when you need full-time around the clock care, when you need someone with you at all times, then let me introduce you to the hospice of the 21st century. 

Did you know when my mom lived on the farm, they had to milk cows by hand and it took 20 to 30 minutes to milk a cow. Today, it takes five to seven minutes. I think she even had to walk five miles barefoot through the snow uphill each way. Okay, I digress...

When my mom lived on a farm, hospice didn't even exist. When hospice found it's way into the medical system, back in 1974, it was very different from what it is today. And so, through all changes, growth and learning, hospice today includes social workers, chaplains, nurses, doctors, volunteers, home health aides, and more. And they all come to your home so you don't have to go to them. 

At the last visit with the oncologist last week, mom's oncologist summed it up nicely: "Lorrie, enrolling in hospice now allows your nurse and all the health care providers to get to know you, know who you are, how you envision your ending to look--because we all have an ending--and allow them to see you doing so well. I wish all of my patients enrolled in hospice when they were feeling well." 

So yes, my mother enrolled in hospice on Sunday. And yes, she's still living her best life! Let's hope it continues that way for a very long time. 

We know that chemotherapy was too hard on her system. We know chemotherapy was shutting down pieces of her that didn't allow her to walk or eat or stay awake. And so pain management it is. And her pain is being controlled very well right now. It's what hospice does best. 

From the very beginning of this journey the oncologist was very clear: There is no cure for stage four pancreatic cancer. Palliative chemotherapy can sometimes mitigate its growth. And it did. For several months. But then the chemo became more difficult to bear. So our mom decided to stop. And she chose not to do another scan. And she chose to enroll in hospice. 

And so now if you want to get on her social calendar, you better call or text her because it's filling up. She's busy. And it doesn't look like she's slowing down anytime soon! 

PS - If you read this far, thank you. Lorrie no longer has her home phone number and only uses her cell phone. So text her first. And if you don't have her cell phone reach out to me, and I can provide it.