A PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO WEXFORD HOSPICE
IT GIVES me great pleasure to write this article on my experience of the Wexford Hospice Service in Wexford.
The snow we have just experienced brings memories of the snow we experienced in 2010. That was the year my late mother and I first heard of her ovarian cancer diagnosis. The long road to Waterford Regional Hospital beckoned us one Thursday morning at 6.00am to be at the hospital for Mam’s first session of chemotherapy for 8.00am.
We made it but both of us were full of fear. Mam received her treatment that day and we faced the slow journey home. Again we made it home safe.
That was the start of Mam’s journey on the cancer road. An operation, chemotherapy sessions, scans, doctor visits, chemist trips followed.
Mam battled her way with positivity and great faith. Her motto was God had dealt her this card and that was her path in life. Unfortunately I did not always share her positivity and often questioned my faith. Why was such a kind, gentle and caring woman dealt such a blow?
In 2013 an exceptional group of ladies came into our lives. They are the Wexford branch of Hospice Homecare. They telephoned and called, offered support and indeed their visits and calls were looked forward to with much joy.
Christmas was never my Mam’s favourite time of year but she gave us memories of Christmas 2013 that we treasure to this day. My two children got up very, very early that Christmas morning to see if Santa had arrived, to be met by Nanny saying ‘get back to bed, you will be like weasles before lunch if you do not sleep more now’. Ha Ha! What Nanny said, she meant. That Christmas afternoon however, Mam called me in tears, she was on all fours in pain.
On the January 8 2014 following four years of ‘ hardship’, Mam and I sat in front of her cancer consultant in Whitfield Clinic.
We were awaiting the results of a scan that had been done following a course of chemotherapy Mam had undergone in late 2013. The consultant explained that Mam had undergone her therapy with great dignity and pride. The next sentence word for word is what we heard next. ‘However a new tumour has been discovered in front of your liver… ‘unfortunately it is cancerous and the disease has taken over.’
Trickles of water ran down my back. I awaited my Mam’s reaction. She was quite and teary-eyed. She asked if the chemo just undertaken was of any benefit and the reply was ‘unfortunately no’.
I cannot remember the journey home that day, but Mam’s usual stop at a shop to bring her two grandchildren back a treat was made.
A phonecall from Joan Fogarty from the Hospice was most welcome the next morning. She said she would be down later that day. Mam spent a week in Wexford General Hospital in mid February 2014. She came home and I cared for her.
My care of Mam was made very easy with the assistance of Joan and her team. A telephone call every morning from one of the nurses to see how the night went was a joy. You are told they will be around later in the day.
There are not enough words to describe the positivity of this service.
The Hospice Nurses themselves are a group of ladies who offer care and medical support to patients as well as carers/family members. They attend to all the medical needs of the patient ie pain relief, care etc. but also find time (within their tightly packed daily schedules) to offer support to the family of the patient. There are too many Nurses to name individually but a special group of ladies have left me lasting memories that I will treasure forever.
On March 30 2014 at 4.10 am (Mother’s Day that year,) Mam took her last breath in my arms.