Extra Purry, Extra Playful

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
"jmcquown" wrote:
...
Once Mom took to her bed she only jumped up on it once when I was
changing
her bedsheets (this was before Mom went into the hospital and broke
her
hip). I got Mom to walk in and see how a cat reacts to making
changing the
sheets into an adventure. Mom laughed at that

Persia only cautiously ventured in to see Mom from the doorway once
Mom was
bedridden. When Mom did come home from the hospital one of the
first things
she asked me "where's our cat?" Of course with all the people
around
Persia was hiding and I told her so. I did carry Persia into her
room
before she died so she could reach out and pet Persia. She'd never
actually
gotten to pet her before. She said "She's soft." Yes, she is.

This is very cute. But I'm taken aback by how suddenly you lost
your mom. I thought that she must still have been healthy to have
been taking care of your father all those years.

It can be shocking to see how fast a person can fail when their
partner dies. Even when any outsider sees nothing particularly close
in their relationship.

It is terribly hard to watch it happen and not be able to do anything
about it. Loss of the will to live is a very real thing, and very
hard to treat.

Often you don't realize that the only thing holding them together was
the other person needing them and relying on them. Without that they
can't cope.

I don't know that was the case with Jill's mom of course, but I saw it
happen to my uncle.

Jo

"Jofirey" wrote

| It can be shocking to see how fast a person can fail when their
| partner dies. Even when any outsider sees nothing particularly close
| in their relationship.
|
| It is terribly hard to watch it happen and not be able to do anything
| about it. Loss of the will to live is a very real thing, and very
| hard to treat.
|
| Often you don't realize that the only thing holding them together was
| the other person needing them and relying on them. Without that they
| can't cope.

It can also work in precisely the opposite fashion. Case in point: my
parents. Being needed and relied on by my mother was the single most
significant factor in bringing about my dad's death at 65. After he was
gone, she lived 16 more years - and she was 4 years older than him to begin
with!