God Bless Jim and God Bless you for doing God's work. Life is the greatest gift He can bestow on us. It is precious and should be defended.
A prayer for Jim:
Lord, you send us men of great character and courage to do great things, through FreeRepublic many have learned about your love, in these latter days, and love of of true Liberty which the Founders of our Great Nation understood and embraced. Bless your servant Jim, a great Patriot of these United States, heal him and bring him comfort.
Thy will be done.
AMEN.
Amen.
Although both my mother and my husband had fatal conditions we managed to have 6 more months with my mother and several more years with my husband. So a life-prolonging strategy is definitely worth developing.
When my mother came to live with me at the end, she had some sores and growths, and was almost completely blind from glaucoma. She had been eating very poorly and not taking her vitamins, I improved her diet and gave her daily vitamins. The sores healed, the growths dropped off, and she regained some eyesight. I got a wheelchair and would take her for “walks” and sometimes to restaurants in the mixed race neighborhood. The black people we encountered were especially nice and helpful. I had the feeling they were thinking, “My goodness, I didn’t know white people took care of their elderly in person,” I would also read to her and we
would discuss things. She had at least 2 hours a day of mental alertness, and a few more when she could enjoy outings and good food.
My husband and I had bought 12 acres in a new montain community after his brother wanted to sell land they had inherited in common, I did an IRS 1031 “Starker Exchange” so we didn’t have to pay Capital Gains tax. The land had a large pond and an open metal roofed shed to picnic under. We would go there and camp. He would wake up and want to go to work. I would explain he was retired and we should go back to sleep. Finally, I decided, OK, you want to work, I’ll put you to work. So we turned the picnic shed into a small cabin. I made the plans, he drove to 84 Lumber, I picked out the lumber, he carried it to the van and unloaded at our land. Then I would measure, mark and start a cut. We had no electricity, so he would continue sawing where I had started until the board was cut. In addition to 2 by 4s, we had 2 by 8s. He was strong and could remember for 15 seconds. He could perform many continuous actions like sweeping sidewalks or the moss at the cabin, sawing and hammering, or kneading bread dough or stirring the stew. Once a board was cut he would hold it in place while I started a nail. Then he would finish the heavy nailing. He could also carry groceries from the store. A tree fell on the cabin roof and destroyed part of it. I went on the roof to replace the parts. I would see the ladder start to move and scream, “Hey, I’m up hear working.” He would put it back. He simply could not remember more than 15 seconds, but he really liked to work.
It was only in the last 6 months that the physical decline became problematic. They mental decline progressed steadily for about 10 years. He enjoyed the time we spent in the country because he could walk quite a distance and still see the cabin to return to. He did get lost in the city. I had to send the police to find him several times when he “escaped” while I was fixing a meal. One fall he swept the sidewalks for 6 blocks before they found him. After that I had to feed him something very quickly when he was hungry, and sit him in the kitchen to talk with me while I cooked. There can still be some good moments even though the end may be near. Enjoy what is possible and pray for strength to accept the rest.
Amen