Larry's Gethsemane

"Remember Gethsemane. Sometimes, when a righteous individual  is in agony, seemingly alone, he, too, is companied by celestial friends who are nearby, but not so near as to interfere. For the surrender which is underway is also a victory!" - Neal A. Maxwell

Larry Jamison's absolute favorite story from the New Testament of the Holy Bible was the account of Christ's suffering in Gethsemane. (See Mark 22:39-44). It is the heart of the Gospel for us, telling of Jesus's suffering ALONE, as he bore the sins of all mankind, in preparation for his Crucifixion and eventual Resurrection from the grave. This made possible our future of eternal life with Him.

On Thursday, November 8, 2018, Larry's earthly life was drawing to a close, just as Jesus's life was when he suffered agony and great pain in the Garden of Gethsemane. On that night Larry, too, was suffering great agony and pain as he lay in bed. We'd had a very tiring day. My week of work had been difficult and I was exhausted and impatient to get some rest. I'd been bringing work home for several weeks so I could take care of him. Our nights were nearly sleepless, as he struggled to breathe with his supplemental oxygen, and follow his medicine schedule throughout the night. His oxygen reading was supposed to remain above 90, but always fell into the low 70s with any bodily movement. So taking pills at 1:00 am and 6:00 am turned into an hour routine each time. It was midnight before we got to bed that night. I awoke by 4:30 am Friday, Nov. 9. and at 5:00 am, Larry was ready for me to help him out of bed to get dressed and ready for the day. It was no use for me to even try to go back to sleep until sunrise! It was 8:30 am when we finally planted ourselves in the living room to start our day. Getting him dressed and into the living room was a three-hour process. 

Larry asked me to grab a pencil and take some notes, as he had many things to tell me. He explained that he was prepared to move permanently to a nursing home, that he would not be spending another night in our home or his bed. He'd spent the entire night awake and in agony and alone in his thoughts. He was exhausted, weak, in pain, and knew I was too. I'd been suffering from Sciatic nerve pain for two months, working at my employment, and taking care of our household and him for three months. He looked at me with a look I hadn't seen before, ever!, and said, "Last night was HELL!" He said he would not put me through one more day or night like we'd been through recently, that he wanted to go to the nursing home where his son worked and let them care of him until his death. Of course, I broke down and cried and told him I didn't want him to leave, nor did I want him to die.    

As it turned out, Larry was not a candidate for nursing home care at that point, unless we were willing to pay privately for his care. Medicare would not cover his stay because he didn't have a "treatable illness". Fatal Pulmonary Fibrosis didn't qualify him! He did, however, qualify for hospice, so I enrolled him into the care of Sangre de Cristo Hospice, who helped us with his care at home until his death on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. 

In this photo, Larry's eating his lunch while bedside in his hospice bed three days prior to his passing. We can see the Oxymeter on the index finger of his left hand. He wouldn't be without it, as he had to continually monitor his oxygen level. And, of course, the TV remote is near his left hand too. At noontime, it was time to watch Gunsmoke! 

As we get through this Easter weekend and remember the suffering our Savior did for us so that we might have eternal life, I've thought of "Larry's Gethsemane", as he suffered alone that Thursday night in preparation for his passing into Eternal Life too, just four days later. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell so eloquently stated: "Remember Gethsemane. Sometimes, when a righteous individual (Larry C. Jamison) is in agony, seemingly alone, he, too, is companied by celestial friends who are nearby, but not so near as to interfere. For the surrender which is underway is also a victory!" - Neal A. Maxwell