TheRuths.net

My Dad’s service has come and gone. It was in the middle of a blizzard, as he planned it to be. Some of my father’s ashes lay above his parents grave in Amesbury, the rest of him now back to Mother Earth as he always wished. The music was beautiful and the eulogies simply perfect!
As for Grams, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron, they are safely back in PA. Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron spent most of their trip up here with mom learning her daily routine. Afterall in about three weeks she will be making the tranisition down to their house to live with them for 3-6 months.
Mom has been doing well. As always she has her good days and bad. She has been thinking about Dad alot and often misses him. Tuesday was an especially good day - mom put on both her shoes and tied them herself:) Today she traveled to Mass General to have a ‘permanent cath.’ put in. She is doing fine.
Overall the Riley Family is pulling through with the love and support of our wonderful family and friends. As always keep the email and mail coming to mom, it seems as if it’s almost like magic potion…. appluading the tiniest victories and hugging the biggest hurts!

January 1, 2005 and a new year starts. We hope this year is a safe and healthy year for all. As for Linda she is making steady progressions forward. Her right eye is tracking to the left and that shows that the eye is improving. It is also opening a little and tingling. Her left eye is starting to tear a little which it did not do before. She is getting saliva production which she also did not have before. Obviously this is very important for eating. Linda had a bout of severe constriction of her chest and they will start some stretching excercises to help eleviate this band that causes her pain and breathing problems. Her spirits are good but she knows the memorial service is approaching and she knows that will be difficult. She is also anxious about how others will see her as she doesn’t look like she did a few months ago. Linda is on some new antibiotics for her urinary tract infection as the “little buggers” are particularly tenacious and much more resistant to antibiotics. Linda has been on antibiotics quite often since she was hospitalized in October. This can in itself be a health problem as her infections become more and more resistant. Eric and I have begun the search for a wheelchair van in the area. On Monday we are going to visit a lot that has a bunch of vans to see what’s available. We would like to have one here by the time Linda arrives so that we can pick her up at the airport instead of hiring a transport to bring her to Thorndale.