Dear Family and Friends,
This year we have seen a lot of changes in our family. As you may remember from last year’s letter, Mom was diagnosed with both diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease in 2008. This was the beginning of a new phase in our household affairs.
At the end of January we took Mom to a brain specialist and were able to get a more specific diagnosis of her condition. She has what is called Frontal Temporal Dementia (FTD). The key characteristics of this condition are lack of communication and reasoning skills (versus typical Alzheimer’s Disease which usually begins with short-term memory loss.) The prognosis, however, is the same as that for Alzheimer’s Disease….irreversible loss of brain function that continues until death.
The day after our visit to the specialist, we got a call saying that Mom’s mother had passed away quietly in the night. The whole family travelled to Three Hills for her memorial service. It was good to see so many family and friends there.
At the end of February Mom spent a week in the hospital because of burst appendix. We are very grateful to the Lord and the doctors and nurses at the hospital for saving her life. Mom had her right colon removed and an ileostomy put in for three months. We celebrated when she was well enough to have her reversal surgery.
Mom drastically changed her diet and began to exercise when she found out she had diabetes last year. That, combined with the ileostomy, helped her lose more than 90 pounds. She has enjoyed getting a whole new wardrobe out of the deal. She can now wear my clothes, and sometimes they are too big!
However, the trauma to the brain due to the infection caused by her burst appendix was immediately evident. We could no longer leave Mom alone at all. She required 24/7 supervision. Since then she has been slowly recovering her mental abilities…a realistic goal is to get her back to “pre-surgery” levels.
As a result, in March Eva quit her job to stay home with Mom. Dad, Mom, and Eva planted a very large garden. They also planted a new fruit orchard. Most of the summer they were outside working on the garden, something Mom really seemed to enjoy and be able to do for hours at a time. (Well, she really didn’t garden, but she was great at picking up sticks and cutting down scotch broom.)
Their efforts were rewarded by a huge harvest in the fall. Eva and Mom were kept very busy putting up produce. In August, Dad, Mom, and Eva entered a bunch their produce in the Kitsap County Fair. Eva also entered a bunch of her craft projects. Our gang brought home over fifty ribbons including 18 blue ribbons and two best-of-show!
I, Juliana, still work at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Olympia, coming home on the weekends for my turn at “mommy-sitting.” I continue to be active with the Republican Party.
Dad continues to work for Metagenics. He is beginning to feel his age (he’ll be 72 in January 2010), and is learning to take things a bit slower. He continues to pastor our home church.
Jeremy and Rachel enjoy marital bliss. They will celebrate their third wedding anniversary on February 10, 2010. Jeremy is still working for Autodesk and Rachel takes occasional catering and cake making jobs. They spent several weeks this summer working on their property in Olalla to prepare a future building site.
Rick bought a little mobile home and moved to Skykomish. We have seen him more frequently in the past several months as Dad (and usually Eva) have gone up there several times to help him out with maintenance issues.
Will and Michele are almost done with their “year” in Australia. We hope they will be home sometime early 2010. Michele still has not fully resolved her health issues, but they are getting closer to determining if they can help her to walk on her own again.
Overall we are all in good spirits and good health. This spring we discovered a new family favorite activity…four wheeling (not that we get into any dangerous situations). The adventure started with a weekend surprise from Dad consisting of a trip around Mount Rainier in a convertible. We all loved the open air and Mom really enjoyed it too. It seemed to calm her down.
So, after a little shopping around, we traded in one of our Lincoln Town Cars for a Jeep Wrangler! We named the Jeep “Therapy,” because when things start getting difficult we pack up the family for a “Therapy” session.
In October Dad realized a lifelong dream to really go sailing. We had a family sailing lesson and thoroughly enjoyed our time on the water.
We continue to maintain a private family blog called “We Choose To Laugh” where we record Mom’s progress and various adventures. If you are interested in being authorized to read the blog, please send me an email.
Most of our email addresses have changed this year, so if your emails bounce, please use the Contact Us pages on this site. Dad (a little) and I (a lot) are active on Facebook, so you can also keep track of us that way too.
We are grateful to God for the many wonderful years we have had, and look forward to many more years surrounded by God’s love and grace in a very special way. On behalf of the entire family, I would like to thank the many friends and family members who have been so encouraging during this time of many adjustments in our lives. We look forward to eternity where all hurts and ills will be healed.
Merry Christmas and may God bless your New Year!
Juliana for Jerry, Lois, and Eva McMahan
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