Today was my brother, Mark's, birthday. I visited him for the third time this week. His son, Andrew, was there today also. I didn't spend much time with Mark since I had to get back to work soon, but it was nice to see him so happy. a few months ago my mother and sisters and I had a plan to get Mark 60 birthday cards on his 60th birthday. Mark has been in a nursing home for almost 10 years. Can you imagine being in a nursing home when you are 50? Mark is usually looking for the negative in his life, but today he was happy to experience his birthday.
As Mark watched the birthday cards pile up this week his smile got bigger and bigger. I wanted to extend his birthday celebration as long as I could. We started with putting the stack of cards on a table near him and I opened them and told them who the people were, when I knew. The pile grew in the week. Today when Andrew came he brought a stack as large of cards he had sent to his address. My mom got her wish and there were over 60 cards hanging in his room when we left today.
The home he is in got him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting which is what he asked for. I got him a CD player for audio books. I also checked out two audio books, two of the Sue Grafton books that I have been listening to this week. Maybe we can listen to the same book and then when I visit him we can talk about it! He has smiled more this week than I have seen him smile over the last 10 years. Every day he wakes up is one more day he has beat the odds. Last December he went into the hospital and we thought he wouldn't be going back to the nursing home.
He went back to the nursing home and really looked very weak. He improved a little and has stabilized since then. They are putting his bed up to 45 degrees these days, the first time it has been raised in 4 months. I look forward to seeing him each time these days. I will visit twice next week also, he lives 2 hours from me. Mark had a habit of complaining before and now he tries to make the people around him happy. Happy Birthday, Mark!!
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