The Wordsmith's Forge

My mother-in-law was dying of lung cancer, and refused to die in a hospital. We had just moved to this house when she needed full-time care. We set up with a hospice team to come to our house, and had her in the spare bedroom, I'd feed her, change her diaper, give her medicine on schedule, change the channel on the TV for her, and generally wait on her hand and foot. She had had caregivers coming to her home before she moved in with us, and she had to fire each one - one stole from her, one didn't come the instant she was summoned, one had a bad attitude. She also found fault with the way I took care of her. She had never forgiven me for not being beautiful and rich enough to marry her son. And I'm sure she was utterly enraged by having to depend on my for everything during the last days of her life. I don't want to find myself in the position she was in when I can no longer get out of bed. And Medicare won't pay for home care, which is why she caught her carer stealing from her.