During my mothers hospitalization at Spaulding Cambridge in the ventilator unit she was very sick, very weak and  slept a whole lot.  Remember, her prognosis was not good. My mom did not have a private room and I think it was a great thing for my mother and for her roomate Mary.

You see my mothers roomate Mary was not wanted in any other persons room in that unit. She was put in my mothers room because she was loud at times and dilsruptive to her roomates and the staff.

My mom was pretty much sleeping at first so they figured my mother would not be affected by Mary’s outbursts etc. God had a purpose for this situation and my mom was selected in this time to witness Christ and unconditional love to so many in that hospital during this time. And she was! My mother listened to the daily goings on in that room with Mary and  My mom continued to get  stronger by the day. When my mom was weined from the ventilator and was able to speak once again as I wrote in my last blog. At this point my mother looked like she was a Miracle that was on the road to a recovery, and she was. Right away the staff said, I am sorry to my mom,  Mary has her moments. We will try and find her a new room, she is hard to place with others. My mother said don’t be silly, its fine. Due to Mary’s health condition it can be 24 hours of non stop action. The staff one after another came in and thanked my mother, my mom just felt that Mary was an angel, and just needed a calm reassuring hand. It was scary for Mary being there alone with all the machines, noises etc.

You see, Mary is a beautiful women in her late 50’s I am guessing and she is very bright. Something happened at her birth and her brain was deprived of oxygen and she was like a child from that point. This was prior to my cancer diagnosis so, I was able to be there daily too. My dad was there every morning and stayed until late afternoon with my mom and we (her children and family) coodinated so we would all be there at different times. Well, my mom would be helping from her bed fordging a relationship with Mary. Mary is just a beautiful person who would get upset and did not always have an ability to understand. I looked at her and saw a beautiful child there in that bed. Innocent and she needed to rely on everyone to survive. She too was on a ventilator off and on depending on her respritory needs. She had her older sister Dotty coming in daily, late in the day and would read Mary her childrens books, help her with some private care issues etc. Mary loves all her old movies and watched them all the time the sound of music, Judy Garland etc. Mary was living in the past speaking about her mom and dad who were her life.They both passed when they were in their 90’s. Mary has an identical twin who is healthy.

My mom , dad and family grew very tight bonds with Mary and her family. My mom would get Mary to talk, calm her down and help the staff to work with her when she was having a bad day. My mom prayed and talked about Jesus with her. When Mary’s sister Dotty could not come and Mary was waiting She had a private nurse Elizabeth come in . Elizabeth had helped and assisted her over the years at her home too. She is family to Mary:) She too would be praying with Mary, just beautiful.A gift to Mary and I believe Mary is a gift to her too.

Mary had her baby ( a doll) named Michelle. She had a toy baby bottle and she would be feeding that doll burping it and the doll slept with Mary every night. Mary would tell the baby its okay and she would tell my mom that Michelle was crying.  My mom was involved when Mary was in a bad place my mom would end up feeding the doll and burping the doll, it made Mary so happy. My mom had such compassion for  Mary and she loved her. My dad was there all the time so he could see her struggling, trying to eat. The staff was helping but she did not want them for whatever reason so my dad would say Mary, would you like me to help ? She would say yes, and my dad would help to cut things up etc. The staff was so happy to see Mary content and it really helped to calm the unit down.  There is a saying, If you cannot do something nice then do not do anything at all. Service to others is an honor as far as I am concerned. It is not alway’s easy but there is nothing more rewarding.

I will continue with this shortly,

God Bless You,

Danny

A dedication to all the special needs kids around the world.

Bob Carlisle