My Mom passed away this past Thanksgiving after a three year courageous battle with ovarian cancer. She was diagnosed a few months after Dan Fogelberg was diagnosed and my Dad was her caregiver up in MT. I live and work in Denver, CO and flew up there one weekend of every month.
She lost every last bit of her lean body mass and muscle in the last six months of her life and with that she had a lot of accidents with her bowels. She was always so humiliated, but one thing that made her feel better was that my Dad always told her he felt honored and privileged to be able to clean up the floor and carpets after her accidents.
I also bought her a brand new wardrobe to wear in the last six months so she would not have to sit around in a bathrobe and would have something to wear to chemotherapy sessions. She had always loved her beautiful wardrobe, but she dropped from a size 12 to a size 6 petite over the last eight months of her life. I was lucky to find a moderately priced line of petite clothing at Dillards called Alison Daley. I was able to buy her a lot of really cute pants and tops that were washable and easy for my Dad to iron. All of the Alison Daley line have elastic waistbands in the pants. She did not have time to deal with a zipper when she had to race to the bathroom during an accident. If she did not make it in time the little outfits could be tossed in the wash and she could change into another one right away because I had purchased and hung so many in her closet that over the course of Spring, Summer and Fall last year.
She always scolded me for buying too much, but my Dad has told me many times since that all of the cute little outfits brought her what little joy she had in the final stage of her battle.
I look at the outfits hanging in her closet when I go up to MT now. I find myself wishing that she had lived longer to wear them. Then I stop my myself from thinking such a thing because she is in such a better place now in heaven than she was down here suffering so much in the final stage of her cancer.
Sorry to be so long. I really do recommend doing a Google search on the Alison Daley line of clothing for anyone in a similar situation.
Pam D
