Post by Barb Edler

My mother with my oldest son, Marcus at my sister’s wedding.

Family photo.

My mother became suddenly paralyzed when I was in second grade. Her right arm was particularly affected, but her left arm could freely swing. Suddenly my beautiful mother who was the center of my universe could no longer walk, talk, or take care of herself. Fortunately, she could understand everything going on around her. I’ve been trying to write about the way she taught me to communicate on a whole new level. Writing sometimes can be difficult and painful when the subject is complicated and personal.

My life forever changed after her illness. She was in the University of Iowa City hospitals for almost a year. The doctors really could not explain or identify her condition. My father took her to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where they determined she had multiple sclerosis, and Iowa City agreed with their prognosis.

For a while she was in a nursing home after being released from the hospital, but that was most likely too expensive, and my dad moved her home where we all took care of her until she was around 59 years old, and my father had a physical breakdown. Then she was moved to a nursing home where she died within the year.

While I was a kid growing up, my mom would sleep in bed with my dad at night. Throughout the day, she was in a hospital bed situated in the living room next to the picture window so she could watch what was going on outside. Some of the things she enjoyed from that time was listening to books on albums that were delivered through the mail, watching birds, Dinah Shore and soap operas. She planted daffodils before becoming ill that would bloom each spring. Daffodils are my favorite flower.

I miss her.