Home
Monday started better. It was a sunshiny day, not too hot. In the afternoon, my mom was mellow and fairly herself so that we could have some limited talk. My niece gave her a shower, and then she sat on the toilet, hands in her lap, the way I used to as a kid so that I could comb out her hair, and she wanted me to blow dry it. She was very patient as I don't really know how to use a blow dryer--I kept it on low, and fingered her silky hair, wondering if she'd felt the same things I was feeling when she combed our hair when we were small.
Then she went outside in the sinking sun. I was in the patio watching the 5 and 3 year olds, and glimpsed mom smiling into the sun and shaking her hair back.
Then she and the 5 year old went inside, and not five minutes later, the 5 comes out and says "Gigi's hurt."
My niece (fixing dinner) and I converged on the back room, where we saw Mom's legs sticking out into the hallway from her room at a very awkward angle, jerking.
I will spare you a description of a person in a very hard seizure.
Since then it's been hospital, child care, hospital, child care, with me as the pick-up person as my sister and niece and nephew all went to work--none of them can afford to take time off. That means getting up at four every day, and frequently not ending the day until midnight. (Two a.m. that first horrible night.)
I am home now, as another niece is taking over as pickup person.
There was never any chance to even open the two books I'd brought along to read. But I will list the joys I took. First, drying Mom's hair as she sat there so mellow, her silky hair on her fragile head, and then the sight of her enjoying the late sun.
Second, the house, which my niece and nephew bought in November, came with a surprise: a tortoise. He was out ambling across the yard on Monday before things turned bad. Mom was quiet enough that I took some greens out there, but at the sight of me he withdrew into his shell. I waited, and he poked his head out, but didn't want to move.
However, yesterday I was folding a mountain of laundrag while the kids played in the tent made out of the living room furniture and a sheet, and I noticed movement below the screen door to the patio. There was the tortoise, right outside the door! I looked away and when I looked back, there was his head all the way up as he peered intently inside.
I quick went to get some greens, slid the door open--and he didn't withdraw! So I held the greens down for him to take, which he did with infinite slowness. At that point I had to tend the kids, so I laid them down. When I was able to come back, it was in time to see him ambling away, navigating around all the toys.
Today on the drive back, I dove off the freeway to visit
rachelmanija and
sholio there for a visit. We went off to our favorite lunch place and chatted about writing, and about crazy adventures that
rachelmanija talks about in her blog. It was a ton of fun, a reward for a rough week, and so to home.
At this point we don't know what's with Mom. For a frail woman weighing under ninety pounds she fought incredibly hard (the first night it took three people to hold her down) to rip out IVs and monitors, not once but twice, and her arms are full of bruises and wounds. I think I'll stop there.
I'm pretty beat. So soon I'll open one of those books I never got to crack.
This entry was originally posted at https://sartorias.dreamwidth.org/1002369.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Then she went outside in the sinking sun. I was in the patio watching the 5 and 3 year olds, and glimpsed mom smiling into the sun and shaking her hair back.
Then she and the 5 year old went inside, and not five minutes later, the 5 comes out and says "Gigi's hurt."
My niece (fixing dinner) and I converged on the back room, where we saw Mom's legs sticking out into the hallway from her room at a very awkward angle, jerking.
I will spare you a description of a person in a very hard seizure.
Since then it's been hospital, child care, hospital, child care, with me as the pick-up person as my sister and niece and nephew all went to work--none of them can afford to take time off. That means getting up at four every day, and frequently not ending the day until midnight. (Two a.m. that first horrible night.)
I am home now, as another niece is taking over as pickup person.
There was never any chance to even open the two books I'd brought along to read. But I will list the joys I took. First, drying Mom's hair as she sat there so mellow, her silky hair on her fragile head, and then the sight of her enjoying the late sun.
Second, the house, which my niece and nephew bought in November, came with a surprise: a tortoise. He was out ambling across the yard on Monday before things turned bad. Mom was quiet enough that I took some greens out there, but at the sight of me he withdrew into his shell. I waited, and he poked his head out, but didn't want to move.
However, yesterday I was folding a mountain of laundrag while the kids played in the tent made out of the living room furniture and a sheet, and I noticed movement below the screen door to the patio. There was the tortoise, right outside the door! I looked away and when I looked back, there was his head all the way up as he peered intently inside.
I quick went to get some greens, slid the door open--and he didn't withdraw! So I held the greens down for him to take, which he did with infinite slowness. At that point I had to tend the kids, so I laid them down. When I was able to come back, it was in time to see him ambling away, navigating around all the toys.
Today on the drive back, I dove off the freeway to visit
rachelmanija and
sholio there for a visit. We went off to our favorite lunch place and chatted about writing, and about crazy adventures that
rachelmanija talks about in her blog. It was a ton of fun, a reward for a rough week, and so to home.
At this point we don't know what's with Mom. For a frail woman weighing under ninety pounds she fought incredibly hard (the first night it took three people to hold her down) to rip out IVs and monitors, not once but twice, and her arms are full of bruises and wounds. I think I'll stop there.
I'm pretty beat. So soon I'll open one of those books I never got to crack.
This entry was originally posted at https://sartorias.dreamwidth.org/1002369.html. Please comment there using OpenID.