I Hate The Inevitable.

My wife is gone tonight, so I'll sleep alone. And I truly mean alone...
She took the dogs with her.
(She also took the white-noise producing fan... think I'll sleep well?)

Friends have gone out of town to visit their daughter and her new son, leaving behind their 94 year old Mother. My wife has volunteered to "Grandma-sit". Grandma LOVES our pups.
Am I proud of my wife?
You bet.

We've been helping to care for a very sick neighbor for some years. A lifelong smoker, she's now attached to an O2 producing machine to help her breathe. Over the last few weeks her health has taken a serious downturn, and my angelic wife has been checking on her three times a day for about three weeks now.

Sara Jean left tonight for her Grandma-sitting job at about 8 P.M..
Thirty minutes later she called-
"'Naomi' (the emhpysemic neighbor) called and then we were disconnected. Now I can't get her to answer her phone. Can you run down and check on her? The back door feels like it's locked but all you have to do is push it and you can get in."

I had showered and gotten into my bedclothes. I picked up my cell phone, raced downstairs, grabbed the car keys, and sped to "Naomi's" house, fearful of what I might find.

The front of the house was dark but in the back her bedroom light was on. You can imagine my fears as I pushed the back door open and called out her name.

"Yes?", I hear her weakly respond.
I walk into her bedroom to find her lying there helplessly trying to dial a number on her cell phone.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, but I can't make this darn thing work!"

She's declining fast.
We've noticed her forgetting more and more over the last weeks. There's almost no doubt her brain is now being damaged by lack of oxygenation as her lungs continue to worsen.
It's just a question of time until she's gone.
We've known her over 30 years, so it's gonna be mighty tough when that happens.

I pray I'm not the one who finds her after an incident similar to what happened this evening.