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Yesterday

 He slipped away quietly and very peacefully yesterday afternoon. Our prayers that the transition could be smooth and easy for him were certainly answered. We can all be thankful. The photo above is from yesterday, before he slipped away.

                                                                               

Today

 Jean's kind nurse, Beth, came to see him this morning, as she does every Thursday morning.

 His lungs are clear. Blood pressure excellent. There is no swelling whatsoever, anywhere. Beth smiled, and shook her head in amazement. She said, "He has the vital signs of a young man!"

Today

Grandpa Jean is now very, very weak and very, very thin. He takes in enough fluid and enough food daily to make it through another day. I bought a baby bottle, and John is able to squirt water into his mouth, which he can usually swallow. He doesn't speak much. Sometimes he mouths words. Usually he just nods weakly "yes" or shakes his head "no". We still get him up twice a day to sit at the table. He watches a little bit of tv. We have been able to avoid bed sores till recently, but now he has one on his left elbow. He doesn't move his left arm when he's lying down, so a pressure sore has developed there. We're treating it as best as we can. He is not in pain. His nurse said she has never seen anyone like him!

1915 - A Special Year

A few interesting facts about Grandpa's birth year

Isle of Jean Charles

Have you heard that Grandpa Jean has his own island -  the Isle of Jean Charles?    Just kidding.    This island on the southern coast of Louisiana is rapidly shrinking, due to sea-level rise. 

Conversation

When John gets his dad up and sets him at the edge of his bed, Jean is disoriented, and he almost always asks, "Where am I?"

The other day, John responded with, "You're in the United States of America."

Jean said, "Well what do you know. I've been there before."

John said, "The USA is a big place. So you're in Kentucky."

Jean: "Where is that?"

John: "In the middle. Not in the north, not in the south."

Jean. "Where is it then?"

John: "In the middle."

Jean: "I'll take two of them."


                                                 *************

A different day -   John:  "Are you hungry?"

Jean: "I don't know. I never went to school."

John: "Yes, you did. You played on the football team. You played half-back."

Jean: "What about the other half?"


                                                 *************

Jean, sitting at his table, asked, "Who's Mary?"

John: "Mary who?"

Jean pointed to writing on one of the mugs in front of him.

John: "That says 'Merry Christmas'."

Jean: "Who's she?"

 This lovely card and message arrived the other day. Well said.  Jean was pleased. He said, "That was nice of him."

What Do You Think?

      Ad on the back of an old National Geographic of Jean's. Haha. Couldn't resist posting it.

Happy Birthday

  It was a good birthday for Jean yesterday.  Thank you for the calls and cards and kind thoughts and  wishes.
 He was quite alert in the morning, and was able to speak on the phone a little bit. He understood that  it was his  birthday. Friend Roy came by in the afternoon and sang a couple of songs for him. Julee  and June sent the beautiful tulips.
        Thank you, all!

... .KNOWING THAT BEING COOL RUNS IN THE FAMILY

from the receptionist at the chiropractor's office where Jean used to go

Easter Weekend

We had a very nice Easter weekend. Blossoms are out on all the trees. Sunday was sunny.
Peter and Betty are on one of their cross-country trips, and spent the weekend with us. It was so great to have them here.
Another special thing is that Jean was more alert while they were here than he generally is.
On Saturday, he did not know who Pete was.
Yesterday and today, he knew and recognized Pete and spoke with him a little bit. This morning, he did not know who John was, but he looked at Peter, and immediately said his name.
As he was eating, he suddenly started to speak, very softly.
First he said, "I was a little boy once." "I got into trouble a lot." He even smiled.
Who told you that you were in trouble?
"My momma."
How did you feel about it?
"That's how I learned to run."
What did your grandma do?
"She ran fast too." "That was long ago."

Father and his two older sons, on Monday morning, March 28th.

Scenes from our week

barbecued spareribs, mashed potatoes, baked yam with butter and maple syrup, everything pureed

Hairdresser Pat came to cut his hair. Sorry about the hot chocolate on his face. Sometimes he does not want us to wipe his face, and we have to wait.

Time to go back to bed.

Orange Trees and Sunshine

John and I are enjoying listening to some of the detailed interviews Peter conducted with both his parents in the early 1990s about their lives. The interviews are wonderful. Thank you, Pete, for taking the time and effort to do this.

Jean sounds so youthful, although he was close to eighty at the time.

His accounts of his early years in southern California - the orange groves, the beautiful small towns - bring to mind some of the fun, black and white Hollywood movies ("pictures") of the 1930s, and Clark Gable himself, whose ranch was just three miles down the road from them when they lived in the San Fernando Valley. (And who, according to Delpha, looked like Jean.)

Chemistry Lab

I found another reminiscence of Jean's from a couple of years ago.
This one is about his chemistry class in high school.

"I had a good time in chemistry lab."
"I was in charge of the supplies, and had to get out the boxes for the projects every day."
"We made gun cotton, and black powder. That was easy. The gun cotton was made by putting the cotton in nitric acid, to convert the cotton to an explosive."

"We also made chocolate cake. But not on the same day."

Jean Charles, second from left, in chemistry lab at Alhambra High School

Today

  Aide April is the only person Jean allows to shave him nowadays. She is his favorite helper. Occasionally he'll growl and complain at her also, but she perseveres. April comes on Tuesday mornings and Thursday mornings.  In between, Jean sometimes starts to look a little like Grizzly Adams. But then April comes again. and makes him look great.
I hope this photo is not too personal, but I thought it's a lovely picture of service; and the light was nice.  

Generosity

From what I have noticed over the years, I would say one defining characteristic of Jean's life is generosity. He was willing to give even the shirt off his back to someone who needed it.

On his trips to visit family members, he would often bring boxes of avocados or bags of oranges or grapefruit or nuts for everyone. He gave as he saw the need: frequent flyer miles or an airline ticket, huge bags of golden flax seeds, help with car maintenance, books on health, tools, supplies, and I'm sure many other items that only the recipients themselves know about.

He made regular contributions to worthy causes such as an orphanage, Smile Train, the Sierra Club, and to several reservation schools and other organizations that help the Native Americans. He brought thoughtful little gifts for his neighbors, the ladies at his bank, and the home teacher.

In the last years of his life, his caregivers loved to come and see him. He was kind and gracious, and showed a lot of gratitude, which was very much appreciated by them.

He really tried to do good and to help as best as he could, wherever he went.

Today

About a month ago, Jean was pretty much unresponsive, and he refused to eat or drink. This went on for a couple of days. The nurse who comes to see him once a week sat us down for an end-of-life talk. She explained what will happen as the organs begin to shut down, she gave us some medications that might help him if needed, and showed us how to administer them.

Then - he began to rally once again. He started to eat again, and to speak a little bit. Last week he ate "like a lumberjack" - seconds, plus dessert! This week, it's been less. He doesn't remember any of the foods he used to love. His memory is gone. He doesn't even remember his own name.

"Your name is Malcolm Jean Charles", I told him today. That was news to him.
"How long have I had that name?" he asked.
"Oh, for at least a century," John said.

One whole century. Isn't that amazing? To think of all the amazing changes in the world that he has lived through.

Happy New Year!

             
(We have two thermostats in the house. The area where Jean is upstairs is warmer, and the downstairs is cooler. That's why John is wearing long sleeves.)

Yesterday evening was a surprise. Jean was alert and coherent, he opened his eyes, he recognized us, and he was able to eat by himself.
John showed him a Yosemite picture that Jean took in the 1940's.  Jean did not recognize the setting or the picture, but when John pointed to the top right corner and said that Jean had camped overnight there in the past, Jean said, "Oh yes, that Half dome."
It was nice to see him able to communicate like he used to.

This morning, his condition was not so good. He did not want to eat, and then he briefly fainted, as he occasionally does. The doctor said to put him back into bed as quickly as possible in that situation, so we did.
This evening, he was able to eat, but not a lot.
We were watching a re-run of the morning's Rose Bowl Parade with him for a few minutes.  It was certainly a gorgeous day in southern California!
   
     John:   This is the Rose Parade. You used to take me there when I was a little boy. It's in Pasadena.
     Jean:   Where's that?
     John:   It's in southern California, where you used to live.
     Jean:   I don't remember.
     John:   It's near Alhambra.
     Jean:   Where's that?
     John:   It's where I was born.
     Jean:   How come?

We had to smile.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Thank you for your good thoughts and prayers for Jean, and for us. We send our love to you all.