2015
These past four years have been very difficult, beginning with my husband's massive cardiac arrest on New Year's Eve. He was life flighted from Twinsburg to Cleveland Clinic main hospital and put on life support. They lowered his body temperature to 85 degrees and placed him in a coma for one week. Even though he had been technically "dead" for over ten minutes, he still had active brain activity. He was quite talkative after they revived him from the coma. He underwent triple bypass surgery, his second since his first bypass at thirty-nine at the old Mount Sinai hospital in Cleveland.

At seventy years of age it took him twice as long to recover and we decided not to wait any longer on finding a vacation home in Florida. Thanks to the Cairns, who have been friends of ours for more than half a lifetime, we purchased a manufactured home in Plant City in the same retirement community they were spending winters. We became active with morning water aerobics, book discussion club, bridge, Wednesday dinner group, and a weekly prayer group.

2016
My mother's mental and physical conditons were deteriorating rapidly and doctor's were concerned that she would not survive radical surgery. She had bladder and lung cancer. Her hoarding was out of control and her dementia had intensified to the point that she fought anyone who disagreed with her. She paid a married couple $350 a day to drive her around on shopping excursions and do small chores around the house. Every room in the condo was loaded with clothing and papers. My mother had purchased gifts and greeting cards for friends and family, but could not part with them. So they were never given to their intended recipients. Such is the hold that hoarding can have on a person.

I sought help from the local police, senior center, and county agency for the aging, but until she was at a risk to herself or others I could do nothing about it. It was a heartbreaking time for me. Most of my mother's medical procedures were as an out patient, but the one time she required extensive hospitalization my husband and I cleaned up as much as we could. Within three months the condo had returned to an even worse condition.