Help for my mum

We lost my beloved grandmother in May of this year. Everyone is heartbroken, but especially my mum who was very close to her. She visited her every day before she was sick, and was there the whole time she was Ill both at home and in hospice at the end. I live away from my mum  but spoke to her every day, text, WhatsApp etc every day to let her know I was there for her and continue to do this.

My nana had lung cancer, when she died she had lost that much weight she was skeletal, which affected my mum , she kept saying shes not my mum anymore. My nana also died with her mouth open which seems to have affected my mum much more than anything else. Mum tells me she can't get the image of nana like that out of her head.i went to visit nana in the chapel when she died and was beautiful  peaceful and serene looking, they had closed her mouth. I wish that mum had seen her.

My mum is really struggling at the moment, my brother called me yesterday as she was in tears all day. Its only been a few short months, I cry most days over nana, but I feel so utterly helpless to do something for my mum. She text me yesterday to say she felt she had no purpose in life.

 

Any help greatly appreciated

  • Hi there ...

    Oh my, what an amazing daughter you are ... 

    Grief is different for everyone ... and I can understand your mum, as my sister saw our dad just after and his mouth was the same .. for a long time she said it was like the painting of "the scream"  and she also had nightmares trying to not see that ...

    But that's what cancer wants us to do... remember the cancer days .. and always see the saddest part .. then it can claim more victims ... but you know I have cancer too .. and I want my son to remember all those years we had befor cancer .. her mum held her as a baby .. taught her to walk ... walked her to school .. helped her get through teenage years ... and watched her grow into a woman ... 

    That's how we can stick two fingers up to cancer ... every time she sees that look .. if she can bring the best funniest memory she has of her mum .. relive it slowly .. remember each word ... how it made her feel ... over and over again untill it pushes the painful ones away .. that's what her mum would want too ..

    You just being there, waiting and telling her, you need her as much as she needed her mum ... and know she will be sad for a long time ... letting go of grief is like learning to walk again .. one baby step at a time ..  we learn to live with it .. but never stop missing them ...

    And a firm but gentle reminder .. tough love ... her perpoise in life now is to be as lovely a mum and nan as her mum was .. you need her there .. or you can't face loosing your mum too .. sometimes we need gentle chat ... sometimes a firm reminder , they are not the only ones hurting .. but like you say, it's early days .. go with your heart ... at the end of the day, that's all we can do .. 

    Sending you a vertual hug... Chrissie x 

  • Thank you so much for your kind words Chriss. You are so very right. I try and send mum all the lovely pictures I have of my nana, mostly all of them she is smiling and having a nice time and that's what i hope my mum will remember in time. Thank you once again x