I guess when you're a kid you think you're Mama is gonna be there forever and this feeling follows you to adulthood. My Mama was more than just my mother, she was also my friend. We shopped together, laughed and joked together, talked about everything together. She was always there, always! The best cook ever and a wonderful hostess who knew how to make anyone who entered her home feel welcome and special.
In the summer of 2001 Mama was admitted to the hospital with pancreatitis. This was the second or third time she had had it. It is a painful condition, hurting in the upper stomach and lower chest, making you feel like you are having a heart attack. She'd been hospitalized with it once before and the doctors had said the only thing you can really do for it is starve the pancreas until it heals itself. So she spent seven days in the hospital with IVs providing fluids and not eating anything till it stopped being sick. In 2001 this is what I expected.
Mama had been diagnosed with diabetes a few years before this and was on medication by mouth once a day to control her diabetes. She watched what she ate and tried to walk every day. She was a healthy, vibrant, active woman, full of life and love for her family and the best friend of her beloved husband, my Daddy. In the spring of 2001 her family doctor had told her that the medicine she was on didn't seem to be controlling her sugar levels as well as she would like... so she doubled the dose. Within a week or so Mama began to feel sluggish and tired, but didn't think much about it. She and Daddy had a vacation planned in June with family members, so off they went to the Outer Banks. On their return, Daddy said she had been less energetic than usual and he was a little concerned but put it down to busy busy! Mama was Vacation Bible School director at church the last week in June and was tired all week, chalking it up to all the busy-ness in her life lately.
The next morning everything went haywire!!!! I went to visit and they had moved her to ICU! What? Why? Seems things had developed during the night and she needed close observation... well, to make a long horrible story a bit shorter... Mama's pancreas had become extremely infected and the domino effect began... all her body systems were trying to shut down, she was placed in a drug induced coma and the doctors began working on one symptom after another, after another, after another... with things going downhill quickly. Before I could get my thoughts straight, my sister was driving like a maniac from New Jersey, the Red Cross was looking for my brother who was on a mission trip to Honduras and my other brother was heading to the hospital to be with Daddy and me. Mama's doctor, after trying everything to get her stabilized, decided to go in and see if he could remove the infected parts of the pancreas, he felt it was the only hope, her blood pressure was almost nothing and there was little chance she would survive even with the surgery. But he had to try... after a time, he came out of the OR and told us there was no pancreas left, it had completely digested itself, he had removed everything ugly and infected that he could find and all we had left was prayer... they gave us little hope... they didn't know my Mama... or her God... or the prayers of hundreds!!! After four months of battling for her life, suffering kidney failure, mini-strokes, and more, Mama had to learn to sit up and stand and walk and everything... but she was alive and in her right mind!!! What a woman!
Mama lived seven more years without a pancreas and on insulin 4 times a day. She was weaker than she had ever been, but she was still with us and we were happy about that. Then one day, she was just tired. She and Daddy had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in July 2008. We kids had given them a big party that they enjoyed so very much. As a matter of fact on Saturday, September 13 Mama and Daddy had gone to her 50 year high school reunion. On Sunday September 14 Mama didn't go to church, told Daddy she was really tired. On Sunday evening Daddy went back for evening service, leaving Mama napping on the couch. He got home, kissed her hello, chatted a bit with her about the service and who had sent hellos to her. Daddy went to the kitchen to make himself a snack then came back into the living room where Mama was lying on the couch and she was gone, quietly and without fuss, she passed away just like she had lived.
What does all this have to do with soap and a soap blog? Not much... My Mama was the greatest woman who has ever lived. She suffered from diabetes and one thing that diabetics struggle with is circulation problems. I formulated a soap in honor and memory of my beautiful Mama, a soap made with ginger which stimulates circulation and would be a good soap for diabetics as well as others who suffer from any circulation issues... it also smells yummy!
www.southernheartsoaps.com
What a beautiful post.
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