From Ruth Ann Steuber, Saturday, September 20
I know that many of you are praying for us and waiting to hear further info re mom. Further consults with the neurologist have indicated that mom’s stroke was in the area that affects speech and understanding, her cognitive functions. Since being admitted Tuesday she has been agitated and unable to communicate much of the time and has fought every type of treatment. Her lucid moments have been few. She isn’t a good candidate for rehab. We know that mom never wanted to spend her last days in a nursing home or just being cared for. We have made the difficult decision to discharge her to hospice. She remains in the Ft Dodge Unity Point Medical center, room 366. She will be transferred (likely on Monday) to a hospice facility in DesMoines. We chose that location because there my brother and sister, her grandson and family can more easily spend time with her and I can stay at Alan’s home in Clive to be close by. I will want to be with mom as much as possible. I needed to return to Wisconsin yesterday to manage a few things. I will head back to Ft Dodge tomorrow morning and will stay then until God takes her home. Her wish was to be cremated, so we will delay her celebration of life until we have things in place. We feel so blessed to have had our mom for so long and that she remained vibrant, capable and full of life until her neurological event Tuesday afternoon. She would have me send her love to all of you, she was always concerned for others. Thank you all for your prayers and for reaching out. I will keep you informed as best I can.
Monday, September 22
We are here in Des Moines Taylor House Unity Point Hospice, room six. It’s beautiful, staff are good and caring. Just got settled in. Mom is semi alert and she seems to understand us, just can’t say understandable words.