(no subject)
When lori announced JanMo, I thought it would be a great idea to make myself do something creative every day, just to take my mind off things. Unfortunately, it never got off the ground, mostly because I spent five hours yesterday in the E.R. with my mother. Matt and I drove out to see her after lunch, planning to stay for a couple hours, but when we got there, she was complaining that her left hand and left foot were swollen, and the hand hurt horribly. Since it was New Year's Day, there didn't seem to be any option but to go to the E.R. So we did. All they did was run some blood tests, and the doctor said it looked like she had something called pseudo-gout. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and some antibiotics, just in case there was an infection. The meds did seem to be working; by the time we left the hospital the swelling was less, and the pain was mostly gone.
So it turned out to be not a big deal. Unfortunately, with all the waiting-around time, we were there from about 3:15 to 8:15. After that we took my mother home, dropped off her prescriptions, grabbed dinner at Applebee's, picked up the meds and took them back to her place--which meant it was about 10:15 by the time we hit the road. What an exhausting day.
And, of course, she (literally) didn't eat anything after noon yesterday, so when I talked to her this morning, she was complaining about being weak and dizzy, and she had fallen out of her chair. I encouraged her to eat something, and when I talked to her in the afternoon, she did sound a bit better. She's been slurring her speech for a couple weeks, and she's easily confused--yesterday she told me the palliative care doctor was coming out on Thursday, but this afternoon she said she had Wednesday marked on her calendar, so I'm going to have to get that figured out first thing tomorrow morning. I don't think she'll be able to live alone safely for much longer, and I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do about that.
I've pretty much felt like curling up in a ball and crying all day. And I didn't exercise, even though I was home--I've got to get back on track with that.
The good news is, Matt and I had a great time in Wisconsin last week--it was incredibly nice to get away and not think about things. I didn't even call my mother for two days, which was proably rotten of me, but I think I needed a break before everything started up again. We both sat around and read a lot--I finally finished The Devil in the White City, which I started a couple months ago. Really good book--made me wish for a time machine to go back and see the Columbian Exposition.
We stayed in on New Year's Eve, mostly because we never bothered to get restaurant reservations early enough. But that was fine--we cooked some steaks and opened a bottle of wine and watched Love, Actually. Neither of us minded having a low-key holiday this year.
So it turned out to be not a big deal. Unfortunately, with all the waiting-around time, we were there from about 3:15 to 8:15. After that we took my mother home, dropped off her prescriptions, grabbed dinner at Applebee's, picked up the meds and took them back to her place--which meant it was about 10:15 by the time we hit the road. What an exhausting day.
And, of course, she (literally) didn't eat anything after noon yesterday, so when I talked to her this morning, she was complaining about being weak and dizzy, and she had fallen out of her chair. I encouraged her to eat something, and when I talked to her in the afternoon, she did sound a bit better. She's been slurring her speech for a couple weeks, and she's easily confused--yesterday she told me the palliative care doctor was coming out on Thursday, but this afternoon she said she had Wednesday marked on her calendar, so I'm going to have to get that figured out first thing tomorrow morning. I don't think she'll be able to live alone safely for much longer, and I have absolutely no idea what we're going to do about that.
I've pretty much felt like curling up in a ball and crying all day. And I didn't exercise, even though I was home--I've got to get back on track with that.
The good news is, Matt and I had a great time in Wisconsin last week--it was incredibly nice to get away and not think about things. I didn't even call my mother for two days, which was proably rotten of me, but I think I needed a break before everything started up again. We both sat around and read a lot--I finally finished The Devil in the White City, which I started a couple months ago. Really good book--made me wish for a time machine to go back and see the Columbian Exposition.
We stayed in on New Year's Eve, mostly because we never bothered to get restaurant reservations early enough. But that was fine--we cooked some steaks and opened a bottle of wine and watched Love, Actually. Neither of us minded having a low-key holiday this year.