NEWS FROM THE HILLS
Fog is lifting from the top of Pilot Knob, and the hills are rejoicing in another new day. When I tell Mom that it is another beautiful day, she will reply, “Lo, there is dawning, another blue day, Think! Wilt thou let it slip useless away? Out of eternity, a new day is born, into eternity at night must return . . .”
Mom seems to have a poem or song for every occasion. When I took her to Primary Care clinic for a check-up yesterday, she slowly went down the hall on her walker. As she passed the nurses’ station, she was quoting, “The woman was old and ragged and gray, and bent with the chill of the winter’s day. The street was wet with a recent snow, and the woman’s feet were aged and slow. She stood at the crossing and waited long. Alone, uncared for, amid the throng, of human beings who passed her by, nor heeded the glance of her anxious eye . . . ”
When I get her ready for bed and guide her down the short ramp into her bedroom, she invariably sings, “We are going down the valley one by one, With our faces toward the setting of the sun, Down the valley where the lonesome cypress grows, Where the stream of death in silence onward flows . . .”
It is amazing how her mind retains the words to these poems and songs, yet she can’t remember what she had for dinner or even if she had anything. After living with us for almost three years, she can’t find her way to the bathroom alone. Much of the time she is back on Big Laurel Creek, and asks for brothers and sisters.
It is a frightening journey she is taking, as Alzheimer’s disease leads her away from reality and into the deep tunnels of her mind. It is frightening for us also, as we see her slowly moving away from us into a place where we cannot follow. The territory is strange to her and lonely as well.
Even before she broke her hip and the doctor there told us she was suffering from dementia, we had noticed that she was becoming extremely forgetful. Living alone at that time, she had always been fairly self-sufficient and took care of her affairs. We would find her medicine scattered in the floor where she had dropped it, and worried that she wasn’t taking it correctly. She forgot to send out her bills, and found it difficult to write a check. It was a short time later that she fell and broke her hip, and came to live with us.
After she broke the second hip, her mental condition worsened. It was about that time that her doctor told us she suspected Alzheimer’s, and it soon became apparent that she was exhibiting the classic symptoms of that disease. It has been heartbreaking to see our vital and intelligent mother deteriorate before our eyes.
She was always an avid reader, and now will read the same thing over and over. I gave her a large print book this week, thinking she could possibly be able to get interested in it, and she began reading from the back page toward the front. This is a lady who would read several books a week, and zip through a crossword puzzle in a few minutes. Now she can’t remember her age.
We don’t know how this journey will end, or what lies along the way. We are taking one day at a time, trusting God to guide and help us. Mom has walked beside Him all her life, and I’m confident He won’t forsake her now.
Mrs. Barbara Shumaker of Gilboa requested the words to “Going Down the Valley” and it seems a good time to print it.
WE ARE GOING DOWN THE VALLEY
We are going down the valley one by one,
With our faces toward the setting of the sun;
Down the valley where the mournful cypress grows,
Where the stream of death in silence onward flows.
Chorus:
We are going down the valley, going down the valley.
Going toward the setting of the sun;
We are going down the valley, going down the valley,
Going down the valley one by one.
Verse 2
We are going down the valley one by one,
When the labors of the weary day are done;
One by one, the cares of earth forever past,
We shall stand upon the river brink at last.
Verse 3
We are going down the valley one by one,
Human comrade you or I will there have none;
But a tender hand will guide us lest we fall:
Christ is going down the valley with us all.
Verse 4
We are going down the valley one by one,
Yet before the shadowed vale may come the dawn,
When with rapture we shall gather in the sky;
“We shall all be changed,” but some shall never die!
> Read More Information About Us
> More Articles Written By Our Staff
- Celebrating 20 Years Of Community At The Stand - April 12, 2024
- First Positive Case Of Chronic Wasting Disease In Indiana - April 12, 2024
- Southwest Allen County Schools Embark On Major Tree Plantings - April 12, 2024