[Anonymous Personal Story]
This narration is about my mother who set up a unique example of sincere and dedicated care, she took of my grandmother; i.e. her mother-in-law.
There is a general notion about the adversities this relationship goes through. But my mother defied all the prejudiced sayings and wholeheartedly took proper care of my grandma. Our family is a nuclear kind, where I used to live with my young brother and mum and dad. Our grandmother use to live in the village at her native place. But after the demise of grandpa, she was left all alone.
She was a brave lady who took up every challenge on her own. Then the fate took its course and one day she slipped in the bathroom, resulting in a fractured right thigh. Her neighbors took her immediately to the emergency and called up our family. My mum and dad went to the hospital and did the needful at that moment. She was headed to OT for orthopedic surgery. An iron rod was implanted in the right femur. She was hospitalized for 7 days.
After that the cast was advised for further 3 weeks. My mother took the decision and brought her to our home. She was brought on a wheel chair. That day onwards; my mother made a time table for her and made a point to strictly follow that routine. Her meals were served 4 times a day. She was given the sponge bath daily. Even her toilet habits were managed by my mother. We were assigned the duty of taking her on the wheel chair for a small outing in the community garden. So that she must not feel boredom.
Everything went well and she fully recovered on the due date. My mother took her to physiotherapists for the further assistance and also took proper care that she followed her exercise regimen religiously. Everything was going well and she became an inseparable part of our family. She also helped mum in kitchen and other house hold activities. They shared a great bonding.
But with the advancement of time grandma started growing weak and there was a gradual but consistent degradation in her health. My parents took her to our family physician and he did a complete check up. After going through her blood reports and through checkups; doctor said there is no physical abnormality detected and she is going through a process called senile decay.
He prescribed multivitamins for general debility and appetizer for curing loss of appetite. But most important was the consultation about the fore coming circumstances. This was inevitable and hence incurable. It was hard to fight- the age. With passage of time grandma completely stopped taking food and was fed through liquid diet only; that too seasonal fruit juice primarily.
Due to lack of diet, she became frail. Her skin started peeling off. Though there was no raised sugar level or any such serious ailment yet the skin of great toe started peeling off. And there was no sensation left of the affected area. Whenever the doctor tried to start a drip for the glucose loss in the body, the blood coagulated in her veins and rejected any foreign infusion. She also lost control over her urine and stool.
It was a difficult situation for our family. But in these hard times also, my mother put up a brave face and nursed my grandma very well. Daily sponge bath was done and proper care for general cleanliness was taken by her. Grandma started doing all the tasks under my mother’s command only. She also lost her vocal abilities in the end days. But the mutual understanding, between the two was commendable.
Then on one night my grandma called my mum and blessed her with all the nice words, she could manage to say. She expressed her love and gratitude with the loving gestures. On that fateful night grandma took her last breath and left this mortal world in complete silence and went far away leaving behind all the physical suffering and agony. The only thing left was the loving memoirs and the lesson of selfless service to the mankind.
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