by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle, 2017
When Tim’s mother, aged 90, is diagnosed with uterine cancer, rather than undergo months of chemo, radiation, etc., they invite her to go on the road with them (Tim, his wife, Ramie, and their standard poodle, Ringo). She says to the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.” What follows is the wonderful tale of the next 10 months of Norma’s life on the road with Tim, Ramie, and Ringo.
One of the first things they discover is she is experiencing side effects from all the medications, including opioids. They decide to ask her to go to a “pot shop” in Boulder. She agrees. They purchase cannabidiol cream and pills and the cream takes care of the swelling in her legs, the arthritis in her hands, and the one pill a day replaces all of the pain medications. They have a wonderful time together, touring the country (Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, a pueblo in New Mexico, Florida, Georgia, Hilton Head, Boston, Maine, then all the way over to the San Juan Islands in Washington.) What ends up killing her is congestive heart failure. The doctors wanted her to take Lasix to reduce the swelling and maybe give her two more weeks, but she says No to that, too. Tim and Ramie take her ashes to their winter home on the Bay of Concepcion in Baja, Mexico, on the Sea of Cortez. Wonderful book – makes you think about end of life and living life to the fullest rather than tied to the medical community in a painful, messy, long drawn out death.