Heart Sounds: A Daughter's Journey with Her Mother Through the Final Years

By Lois Stewart Perry

Book Overview

The first sign of Mother's problem was not being able to get to the bathroom in time. Next, it was the choking. Later, Mother had difficulty swallowing. The doctor confirmed that Mother's nerves, one by one, had ceased to fire; and therefore, her muscles, throughout her body, were atrophying.

At last I knew why my mother didn't seem to smile anymore. She hadn't lost her zest for life or her joy; it was simply that her smile muscles no longer worked. I knew why her voice weakened and cracked and sounded as if she were drowning in gravel. I knew why she couldn't lift her head high, or write legibly or get out of a chair or walk on her own. I knew why my once soft mother seemed to be turning more and more to stone. I knew, but I didn't know what to do about it.

Heart Sounds is the story about the journey with my mother through her final years, our coming to grips with her need for a nursing home, and our struggles with her imprisonment, both in EverSpring and in her own body. It is the story of her growth into tolerance and understanding of the other "inmates" and of our own growth together into a deepening, more mature love for each other.

This is a story of not giving up and not giving in. And because it is a true story, it is filled with humor and sometimes with fear, often with exasperation, but always with love. It is a story seldom described, but universally experienced.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595470513
• ISBN13: 9780595470518
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Lovingly written

This is a very professional and lovingly written book with a sense of humor. It's a story about a daughter's path with her very strong minded mother through her last several years of life. It involves hard truths and other family members caught up in this cycle of life. If you have gone through, are going through, or have never gone through this situation in your lifetime, there are still compelling passages that make you want to complete this warm hearted and insightful book.

A Pilgrimage We All Will Make

I found this a hard book to put down. It describes the last several declining years in the life of the author's mother. Even though it drives relentlessly toward an end that we all know, it does so with such compassion and humor that I was drawn in. The guideposts, the revelations, the insights and the poignant moments pass more and more rapidly, keeping me involved and fascinated to the very end. Along the way we get to know the characters: mother, daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, doctors, nurses, administrators. Most of them play their roles well, with genuine caring and sensitivity, but sometimes with attitude or misunderstanding. Both the uniqueness and the universality of this experience of death make it the ideal vehicle to explore the many dimensions of love on a pilgrimage we all will make. Perry has written at least one other book, Pushing Sixty -- Behind Me, which is a collection of humorous experiences or misadventures. I'm impressed with her range, humor and elegant style