What is your number?

I was listening to a PodCast the other night where the host

was explaining that we cannot keep more than 150 people

close to us, in meaningful relationships because if we do

they are not meaningful or long lasting.

That if more than 150, you just cannot keep juggling more 

in your life and so some relationships will falter.

In some cases this may be true but I had to investigate

if this is true in my life.

So I began thinking of not only my immediate family but also

my extended family, nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews,

and now even great, great ones.

I have always been the family oriented type,

staying in touch with all these family members.

I not only try my best to reach out to my cousins near and far,

to keep them in the loop of my family as much as I can.

This could be about 100 right there because I am blessed with 

such a large unit.

I also have many friends that I stay in touch with, 

those from my childhood, those from my nursing career,

those clients I have met through my art business.

There are friends I have met on Match and there

are friends I have met in Plaquemine.

There is my wonderful Garden District friends,

those who I love entertaining at the Cottage for 

coffee or game nights.

Last but not least, my four children and my grand girls.

One of the best things that have come about from Hurricane Ida,

is having Jelainey (Jesi and Delainey combined) be with 

us here in Plaquemine for the last few months.

We have re- established the close bond he have had in the past.

Having them here, hanging with myself, Katie Roddie and the girls

has been the best time, we have missed them and I know not all was

bad with Ida. We will remain close once again as we realize

what we had lost due to being busy. We are not willing to give that up again.

My Triple J's, my grand girls...

My time with them, be it quality over quantity due to my Art business,

It is special times and when they are any of a number of their

friends calls me Mumsie..... I melt.

When I run into parents of their friends and they respond to me by calling me Mumsie

I smile. When the neighborhood children come over to hang with me

be it for a snack, hug or to learn some type of craft I am in my element.

With all this being pointed out I know my number is much higher than 150

and I would like to believe I am holding each one up the highest standard

that I can as I know the best gift I have ever been given is the "gift of gab"

and I feel I use that gift to make as many as I can feel important.

So as you read and contemplate this blog, try and figure out,

What is your number?

Then try your best to make each one of them count.

SIMONE UPDATE

Getting off a ventilator is not always good news...

Being put on a ventilator because you can't breath is not always the best.

Yes our Mone is off the vent, in a room, but she is not the Mone we knew before.

Minta and I spent a good half hour yesterday speaking with the 

Doctor and what his belief is for Mone.

A little back history, the Tuesday before this illness,

Minta and I met with Mone and a lawyer to go over her final wishes.

We discussed end of life treatment and she clearly told us both

that if the time came she only wanted comfort measures,

she did not want to be "kept alive".

Perhaps had this happened in a different situation, we may

have not allowed the ventilator, but she has now come off.

We are now witness to a shell of the woman she was just weeks ago.

Her brain function is not what it was, she cries for our parents

and cannot distinguish dreams from reality.

It kills me more that she seems frightened and distraught

rather than at peace. Yesterday it was decided that she will go

on hospice. If by some miracle she does get discharged back to the

nursing home, she will not be going back to the hospital as

the goal now is to keep her comfortable and let her go when her

time comes. Her prognosis is poor but like all deaths, 

we cannot put a time or a date on that.

Thankfully the sweet Doctor of yesterday prescribed medication

that has allowed her to rest and be less fearful.

He also reassured us the Hospice was the way to go and

they can almost assure us that she will just go to sleep and not

suffer in her transition to the next life.

Sister are coming in the next few days to help us with her care and

our goal remains to help her through this cycle of life.

When one begins crying for their "Mommy and Daddy"

and wanting to go home to Dursette Lane, where we grew up,

its time for her suffering to end and ours to begin

as we will mourn her loss, the loss of our oldest sister.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us with 

thoughts and prayers.

We will always be grateful.

 

Simone

My sister Simone, she is having a rough time of it lately.

When most people think of siblings, they are reminded of their own

  who are usually just a few years older or younger than themselves. 

I was blessed by my parents to have 6 siblings in a 23 years span.

Simone, whom I speak of today is the oldest of us all,

81 and is now a resident of a nursing home here in Plaquemine since Ida.

 Just two weeks ago she was rushed to the 

hospital with gallstones and had to have emergency surgery.

Three days later she was back at the Home, doing well although confused.

 Then on Friday night my niece, her daughter, Minta

 received a call from the Home 

saying that the ambulance had to take her Mom back to the hospital.

As serious as the illness two weeks ago was, this episode is life or death.

She is septic and on a ventilator as she was having trouble breathing.

She had a kidney blocked by a stone and had that removed and

the organs washed out. Minta, has been a trooper for her Mom

and has been keeping me updated so I can update the rest of the siblings.

Yesterday evening, I was able to visit for an hour with her and my nursing

self knew what to expect, I have seen this scenario many times in my

career, but my heart, oh my heart....

it could never be ready to see my sister, still on a ventilator,

being weaned off the meds that kept her sedated so that they can

try and get her to breathe on her own.

As I approached her bed, with my Minta at my side,

I reached for her very swollen and cold hand and said,

"Hey Mone, it's Lil"

right away, she opened those big blue eyes that are mirrored in mine,

the ones we inherited from our Dad. As she tried to focus on 

my face, she also squeezed my hand and tried to speak.

We are all big speakers, us Collins children, often known to over-talk

each other, so for her not to be able to talk or try and

figure out what is going on is so hard.

I reassure her that she is very sick but getting better, that

I come full of love from our other siblings and family members.

She becomes so agitated that Minta and I decide to leave her rest.

She has at least six IV fluids, pumping through her, catheters,

drain tubes etc. she is far from out of the woods but this ICU staff

is superb at Our Lady of the Lake and if she does pull through

it will be because of this same staff and the caring of my niece.

My sister is a trooper. She has more lives than a cat, 

if the '9 lives' saying is true. Throughout all of her illnesses,

she has remained steadfast and positive in the belief that

she will be fine and if she is not, then she will be going with all

her other loved ones that have passed to the next life.

Being the baby of all the Collins siblings has me realizing oonce

again, that I will probably see this scenario playing out

again with another sibling before it is my time to say goodbye

to those I love. Yet there is  no amount of "practice" that can prepare

you to see someone you love suffering in life.

I do know this... that each time I am witness to the tragedies of this life

I am more aware of just how wonderful the body and mind is...

... and the heart, well it goes on and on.

(Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks for your time as well.)

left to right!

Roseana, Veronica, Cheryl (sis in law), Peter, Celena, Myself,

and our oldest sister, Simone in the front.

Not pictured, My brother Larry who has died.