One More Night . . .

. . . at least one, maybe more. They keep saying that Mom can "go home tomorrow" and getting her hopes all up, and then she has very little wind, pain on deep breathing, her heart is beating too fast, and she is dizzy and wan, so they keep her another night. I am not a fan of that daily hope-dashing. I think it would be better to say "it will be a few days".

I got sprung today; for the first time since Thursday morning I left the hospital. Pam came to stay from 2pm to 7pm, and I got a lovely 3 hour nap (with Smee curled up on me), shower, and a brief hello to the fam (Theo is really ticked at me, what a surprise - but at least he showed me his latest animated films!). What a difference. I amr eally ready to face the night.

Two darling friends have offered to spend the night for me (!), and it totally blows me away that folks would offer that. But I feel better being here, at least for now.

We are looking into home health care; in the morning there is a lot to arrange. A hospital bed among them. I do not want her hiking up the stairs, and neither do Rob or Cathy:)

Mom is dear and utterly brave in the face of all this. I am exploring new depths of fondness and love for this amazing lady who raised me, put up with my quirks and difficult personality traits, taught me to love this precious natural world, and is my wonderful adult friend. I am relieved when she gets occasionally feisty at caregivers. It makes me feel like she is coming back to strength.

I am also loving her exposing me to more PBS. She really loves that station and I do too, but it is all she wants to watch in here.

My most favorite thing though is her fondness for funny little stories and reminiscences that come up. She talked about her brothers a lot today. Fascinating.

Grateful to be with her, and not knowing how to do do this caregiving along with family and work, and trusting that if other friends can figure it out, so can I.