THE CAT

"Glenda", ninety years old, suffered from end stage Alzheimer's Disease. Glenda had lived in a Skilled Nursing Facility for over a year as needed help with all of her daily activities. The week before she was admitted to hospice, Glenda had taken a dramatic decline to where she was bedridden and had stopped eating.

The nurse and I met with Glenda's daughter, "Janice" at the facility. Glenda had been in a three bed ward for the past year. The day we admitted Glenda to hospice, she was unresponsive and had not eaten for a week. The staff moved Glenda to a private room as they, along with her family and hospice, thought she would die within hours.

All was surprised that, at a week later, Glenda was still alive. Janice told hospice that her mother had always loved cats. She added that her mother's final wish was to have a cat by her side when she took her final breath.

The nursing home staff had attempted to locate a cat to fulfill Glenda's wish, to no avail. It was then that the hospice social worker, assigned to Glenda's case, arranged for one of our hospice nurses to visit Glenda with one of her cats. It gave all of us such a wonderful feeling to have been a part of someone's final wish.


THE CAT

She lay there so still.
We could not wake her up.
She hasn't eaten for a week.
We thought hours to a day at most.

The family was holding vigil,
knowing her time was short.
But she held on and continued to breath
as hours; then a few days; a week did pass.

Her daughter said she unconditionally loved cats.
She always had two or three around.
Her last wish was to have a cat by her side
when she took her final breath.

A staff member brought out her own cat.
She placed it by the patient's side.
She maneuvered her hand to stroke the cat.
The cat purred, loving the attention.

She must have felt the cat's presence.
She must have heard him purr.
As hours later, she was gone.
Her final wish fulfilled;
allowing her
          to peacefully
                           let go.