Yet Another Journal

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» Saturday, May 28, 2005
Being a Responsible Adult
I am at my mom's right now. Thursday night I had a big scare. I called Mom late because we were watching Hidalgo. Her line was busy for 25 minutes at 10:15 at night. She doesn't talk to anyone that time of night that long. So I called my godmother, who had to go pound on the door to wake her up. She appeared a bit unbalanced to my godmother, but she said she was okay and my godmother went back home. So I was talking to her and suddenly she quit talking. I kept talking but had James call my cousin, who rushed over there. She was okay but still very unsteady and did not even remember she had been talking to me on the phone. So Debbie stayed with her overnight.

It turned out she had been mostly asleep all day, had not eaten, and had not taken her medication Wednesday or Thursday (she has pill sorters and you can tell).

I had been putting together plans to come up anyway after talking to her doctor, but the first step I had to take was getting my prescriptions refilled. I haven't been able to get an appointment for a checkup so I have no more refills and the pharmacy has to get approval for the refills. I had been pissed when I stopped by Thursday afternoon and they had refilled one and not the other.

So Thursday night I was up until past one washing clothes and the moment nine o'clock came I had called up Kaiser and told them I needed the other prescription immediately because I might have to "bug out."

Then I talked to the hospice nurse. They had made the decision that Mom couldn't stay on her own. I either came up or they would take matters in their own hands and stick her in some nursing home.

This was about ten o'clock. By eleven I had plane reservations (at an amount that merely made me scream) and James was on his way home and was stopping at Kaiser for me to pick up the prescription, which I had been called about an hour before saying the prescription was ready and I could pick it up.

James called up then, frustrated. They said they didn't have any prescription. Turned out it was still on the fax machine, waiting for someone to come pick it up. I heard James raise his voice. James never raises his voice. It was an awesome thing. They got the prescription ready for him, you betcha.

So by 1:30 I was at the airport and by 2:45 winging my way to Rhode Island. To cut to the chase: Mom is sorta okay. She had some chicken and mashed potatoes for supper and a few apricots (but I didn't know and didn't pick ripe ones) and has managed to wash tonight, where she wasn't up to it last night. But she still falls asleep a lot and seems to be having trouble concentrating.

I am at my wits' end and holding on by a thread so thin that it makes monofilament look fat.

BTW, you can say what you will about the TSA...I know there are some bullies there. But when I got to the gate the lady inspecting the tickets asked me what was wrong (I had just said goodbye to James and was in tears). I told her my mom was sick and she said she had been there and to hang on—and then she said "Do you need a hug?" I said yes, and she hugged me.

So somewhere out there tonight is a TSA employee who wears a halo. Bless you.