Giving Up Is Not an Option: One Man's Struggle to Make the Impossible Possible

By Linda Pierson Meek and Hazen Meek

When Linda Pierson first met Hazen at an amusement park, it was love at first sight. Hazen, a candle maker and rock and roller, captured Linda’s heart from the moment he walked by her photography booth. As Linda and Hazen began dating and eventually married, she had no idea of the challenges that would await both of them in the coming year

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: Jan 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781947765641

Book preview

Giving Up Is Not An Option

Copyright © 2018 by Linda Meek

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-947765-63-4

ISBN eBook: 978-1-947765-64-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

ReadersMagnet, LLC

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Book design copyright © 2018 by ReadersMagnet, LLC. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Ericka Walker

Interior design by Shieldon Watson

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

About this Book and Its Authors

Prologue

Written by Linda Pierson Meek

March 15, 2013

As it turned out, while giving my husband a sponge bath, the Hospice nurse said to him, "Hazen, if you’re going to pass on, do it while I’m here so your wife will not be alone.

Normally, the Hospice Aide came at 9:00 AM. I was usually dragging myself off the couch next to Hazens’s hospital bed after only three hours sleep, every day when she arrived. His pain would be so severe that it would keep him awake for hours on end. I was either giving him pain medication, back rubs or providing him with the urinal through the night, so I only managed about three hours sleep each night. This particular day she was late. For some unknown reason, Hazen had slept soundly the night before. I even slept with him in his hospital bed, curled up tightly against him holding his arm against my chest.

Finally, a restful night’s sleep! It was 9:00 AM and I was ready to go do a few errands once the aide arrived to give him his daily sponge bath. I waited and waited. I was getting antsy. It was now 10:30 AM and the Hospice Aid still had not arrived. I called to find out where she was. The aid called back to tell me she was caring for another patient and would be over around 1:30 PM.

I sat on the edge of his hospital bed massaging his right arm, which was unaffected by his three strokes starting in 1994. He was not awake, but I knew he felt me there. I talked to him anyway. I noticed he gurgled when he breathed in, and I knew what that meant, without anyone telling me. I pushed it out of my mind and kept thinking, He’ll wake up during his bath and everything will be fine. It was a Friday and after the aide gave him his bath, I knew she would change the sheets. This being the case I figured we’d be good for the weekend. I had made him a power shake. It was still in the refrigerator untouched but I planned on trying to get him to drink it as soon as I returned from my errands, hopefully he would be feeling a bit better after his bath and clean sheets. I was ready for us to spend a nice weekend together.

My aunt from out of state called and asked to come out for the weekend. My first response was Not a good idea since I knew she’d want us all to go out to eat or shop. She just didn’t understand what was happening. I told her to come on out but not to expect any entertainment outside the house. She said she’d arrive around 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM.

The aide arrived around 1:45 PM and I left to do my errands, figuring I had about forty-five minutes. I did this very quickly, driving too fast but being careful. I just wanted to get home to Hazen. I arrived home and parked the car in the garage. Since the garage was right beneath the living room, I knew he and our two shelties would hear the garage door open and close. I dragged my minimal purchases through the work room, dodging tools, benches etc. and up the 14 steps to the kitchen where Hazen and our two shelties always greeted me. I knew this wasn’t going to happen today. I dumped the small bag on the counter and went to see how his sponge bath was going. I watched as the aide was finishing. I immediately noticed that his bottom was fiery red. I asked the aide if it was a rash. She said I wish you had not seen that. Needless to say, his body was beginning to shut down.

After two days of Hazen’s eyes being constantly closed, his eyes suddenly flew open. I could tell at this point due to the film on his eyes that he was blind. I ignored it, thinking he’d be fine.

He was doing air kisses. Stupid me! I thought he was thirsty. We had little sponges on sticks that you dipped in water to somewhat quench his thirst. I put one in his mouth, then another. He kept doing air kisses. I sat down beside him and gave him a kiss. He kissed me back. His head turned to the side and a small amount of brown liquid came out of his mouth. He was GONE! Still not wanting to believe this, I sat there, holding him and willing him to wake up. "Hell, we had been through three strokes, a heart attack, and a quadruple bypass. We can fix this. I sat watching him and kept willing him to wake up.

The aide put her hand on his heart, took his blood pressure and then took me aside and told me he was gone. I ran to his bedside and screamed NO!!! I held him, wrapped