By the way, when the FNP...

...pointed out to me that my mother's diabetes was, indeed, checking the brochures and planning a get-away, this is when reality hit. I realized, okay, now I understand this pattern we've been in...it's not my fault, it's the pattern of a woman who is at an age where her body is determining how it will fail. Actually, it's the pattern of an already settled determination.
    The FNP added that, just as with her own mother, who died at the age of 81 after having been diagnosed with chronic renal failure, unless my mother contracts pneumonia, her heart isn't going to take her out. Which is true.
    "It's a pleasant way to die." Her mother thought so when confronted with the reality of her physical situation.
    And, always, guard from falls. I will continue as my mother's faithful dog, at her side almost to a fault.