Michelinski Spoken Here
Copyright© 2021 by RWMoranUSMCRet
Chapter 3
In retrospect, Michelle was a joy to our lives and lived a happy life despite her limitations. She was proud of her accomplishments in Special Olympics and other highpoints in her life.
Her competitive spirit and independence were high on her list of character traits.
One of her favorite places was Disneyland and the other attractions in Orlando, Florida like Medieval Times, and Universal Studios. She traveled with us everywhere and was a part of the family in everything that we did. She would always go with me when I went to a movie or shopped for food after I was fully retired right up until the time, she had a small stroke and lost her ability to function normally. That happened around 2013 and caused a change in our lifestyle with her new challenges of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She lost most of her limited vocabulary and forgot all her sign language. Her appetite was impacted, and she evidenced signs of agoraphobia losing all desire to leave the house or even walk to other rooms. Her sleep cycle was also erratic, and she suffered from sleep apnea and insomnia. We had to find a home visiting doctor which worked out well until he suffered a stroke himself in early 2019.
My wife Dorothea’s health started to fail in February of 2019, and we traveled up to my son’s house in Georgia in March of that year and eventually she was diagnosed with advanced Cancer at the hospital. It was only a short while later that she was placed on hospice care by the doctor, and she passed on the last day of March that same year.
Michelle and I moved into an apartment nearby and were assisted by a healthcare nurse called Penny until November of 2020 when we all moved into a home in Norcross, Georgia where we could look after Michelle at all hours with the assistance of a visiting Home health care PA to check her vitals and other needs. The home health car PA did her blood work each time she visited, and she advised me just after Christmas of 2020 that her readings were at a dangerously low level and she needed hospital care.