Facing End of Life With a Smile, Grace, and the Support of Hospice Care

(L-R): Four Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care members: Erin Miller, Chaplin; Yvette Webb-Smith, CNA; Carolyn C. Long (patient), Laura Grace, RN; and Beth Chalmers, Social Worker.  Photo: Urban News

Staff Reports

Carolyn Colbert-Long moved to Asheville from Murphy as a teen to attend Allen High School. After graduation she remained in Asheville, met and married Leroy Long, and raised a family. In the 1970s she found jobs with the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) and its successor, the Job Training Partnership Act; that work experience led to a career with the Department of Social Services as a receptionist and processing assistant, from which she retired in 2003 after 23 years of service.

Leroy worked at Champion Fibers in Canton, and like many couples, he and Carolyn juggled jobs with raising their family. The four children all now have lives and careers of their own. Keith is a Sergeant Major in the U.S. Marine Corps. Lynn served in the U. S. Navy and now works as postal carrier in Charlotte. Sonya and Danny both are in the Asheville area, Sonya as a sales representative and Danny with his own custodial service business in Arden. There are also six grandchildren, one of whom, “Little Lynn,” was raised by Carolyn and Leroy from age six through high school, when he went to live with his father in Charlotte.

Carolyn was always active in the community and at St. Paul Missionary
Baptist, where she sang alto in the gospel choir. It was a happy and
successful life. Then, last summer, her active lifestyle was suddenly
curtailed by an unexpected illness.

“Last year on my birthday (June 19), I began to experience a
shortness of breath, dizziness, and light-headedness; it was a feeling I
just couldn’t overcome. After being rushed to the emergency room, I was
told I had suffered a heart attack,” says Carolyn.

Diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease and congestive
heart failure, Carolyn learned that the coronary artery disease was not
amenable to surgery, and medical management was recommended. Her
physicians advised her that, because of the severity of her disease, she
probably had only months to live. They told her she would be a
candidate for hospice services if she wanted them.

“After my diagnosis I chose to receive medical support from Four
Seasons Palliative and Hospice Care while in the hospital, and upon my
return home,” she says. “I didn’t want to keep going back to the
hospital every time I had chest pains or shortness of breath. Many
people feel that hospice care is for people that have cancer, but that’s
not the case. Once I understood that a hospice nurse and physician
would visit me at home to provide the medical management I needed, I was
ready to sign up.”

People come from Hospice every week to look after her and provide
the services she needs. She notes that the visits are from “skilled
nurses, doctors, social workers, and even [offer] spiritual support.
There’s someone who helps me with a bath, and a social worker who comes
on a regular basis.”

In addition, her long-time friend and counselor Rev. Lewis Grant
comes quite regularly. “My kids have known him all their lives. He’s a
wonderful minister, one of Asheville’s finest.”

For many seriously ill patients, hospice and palliative care
offers a more dignified and comfortable alternative to spending the last
phase of your life in the impersonal environment of a hospital. There
is no age restriction; anyone is eligible for hospice services. All
services are coordinated to improve the quality of life for both
patients and their families.

Certainly the quality of life is different for Carolyn now than
before her heart attack, but it is still good, she notes. While she
takes more than a dozen medicines a day, mostly for the heart and for
blood pressure control, there are few noticeable side effects, and her
physicians monitor her carefully. She praises her regular practitioner,
Dr. Stewart of Asheville Family Health Services; her heart specialist,
Dr. Wade from Asheville Heart Associates, and Dr. Hicks, the Four
Seasons physician.

The medications and the care she gets make a huge difference. “I
can’t get around as well as I used to, but I still drive if I feel like
it. Walking is a problem, as is doing housework; after just a few
minutes I feel that shortness of breath. The [riding] shopping carts at
stores like Sam’s help a lot.”

She still cooks some, as does her husband. “We were already
eating heart-healthy because both of us had high blood pressure,” says
Carolyn. “That particular diet started a long time ago, so that hasn’t
changed much.”

Carolyn looks at the medical assistance provided by Hospice at
this stage of her life’s journey “not as the beginning of the end, but a
new beginning, allowing me to make the decision of how I want my life
to end.”

“Life is what you make of it,” she says, flashing a big smile.
“Yes, life’s a challenge, but it’s how you channel your energies in the
face of obstacles, and deal with them. Just have a special affinity for
life.”

For more information about Four Seasons Palliative and Hospice
Care, serving the Hendersonville-Fletcher-Skyland area, call (828)
692-6178 or visit the website at www.fourseasonscfl.org.