Marilyn liked Christmas songs, not Karen Carpenter, Nat King Cole or Marvin Gaye. Christmas was her favorite holiday. I’d do the meat and potatoes and she did the desserts. Chocolate covered pears, cakes and cobblers, handmade marzipan, and tray after tray of cookies … all sorts of cookies. Last year she made so many cookies that I was giving trays to all the neighbors and even the school bus driver.
She decorated her home grandly for both Christmas and Halloween. And she received an award from the mayor of her town in New Jersey one year for the best decorated house. Although I did bring a radio to the hospice yesterday, it was unnecessary. The hospice staff already had Christmas music playing in her room. I read aloud from “Freddy Goes to Florida”, a book she and my grandson had started to read together but never finished.
NO medical professional of any import and integrity would offer a medical opinion or advice over the INTERNET. None.
I do NOT have a medical background and I appreciated EVERY bit of medical opinion, advice, encouragement, … and all prayers I received from my fellow Freepers. It has been a comfort to me. I believe the prayers brought Claudia here to us.
Also, I have used this thread to keep family and friends up-to-date, it was less exhausting than sending individual emails.
Marilyn has no health insurance, no Will and apparently the family siblings (if still alive) are removed, isolated and incommunicado. There's a mother, and an older brother in New York who is really stepping like a man it seems. Is there an estate, a life insurance policy or annuity in effect?
Although separated by miles, our family is very close. Mom, who has dementia, lives with me. Last night I had to finally tell her that Marilyn was dying and my son-in-law drove her to the hospice so she could say ‘good-bye’.
My daughter and her family have a home on my property. My daughter is due to have a baby in January and Marilyn kept saying: “tell her to hurry” … she wanted to see the new baby. Marilyn lived about 6 miles down the road from us.
My brother is in New York. I don’t understand you comment about my brother “stepping like a man”. He was concerned about the level of care she was receiving in Ocala, as was I.
Marilyn did not have health insurance, but there is an estate: will, life insurance and annuity. I don’t know what will happen with them. Medicaid told me to “liquidate” her assets until there was only $5,000 left. I was unable to do that … not enough time … so I imagine the state will take her estate to pay her medical bills. I’ll look into that later.