I intended to post something other than this, but that was before I was awakened by a ringing phone at o’ fuck thirty. At first I thought it was a dream, then I realized it was a telephone, and I eventually concluded it was my telephone. I managed to answer before the answering machine worked it’s magic, but it felt like time was passing in hours not seconds.
I was greeted by a caregiver from the in-laws assisted living facility. Yeah, I know. Here we go again. My mother-in-law fell and fractured her OTHER hip. Two broken hips in less than three months. Yeah. I met everyone at the emergency room at 4 AM. We didn’t get her results until eight. Luckily she was stoned out of her gourd on pain medicine, so she slept a lot.
I went home for a few hours, ate breakfast and changed clothes. I couldn’t unwind enough to catch a power nap. I’m not at my sharpest today and I can tell because Patches stood on the kitchen table nuzzling my cheek for ten minutes before I realized “Oh, shit! You’re not allowed on the table.”
Mrs One Eye (MIL) was admitted and moved to a room. She will have surgery today or tomorrow, but the procedure is not as complex as the full hip replacement she had in March. They will put in a couple of screws to prevent the fracture from gaping. Though less invasive, the recovery is still lengthy.
The caregiver took Ole One Eye (FIL) back to the ALF to shower and get some rest. So here I am back at the hospital sitting with Mrs One Eye. She gets terribly confused, but that is okay because she’s extremely stubborn and she thinks her mind is crystal clear. She sleeping right now so my job is easy. But with a four day stay ahead of her, there will plenty of time for hallucinations and fits of madness…just like the last time. I wish her head wasn’t such a frightening place
Mister Hombre is somewhere over the Atlantic so he won’t know about the fall until he clears customs. His brother (who lives here) had to take care of some business, and he won’t return until later tonight. I called the youngest brother and asked him to pass the word. He just sighed, over and over. I hope someone will relieve me of sentry duty this afternoon. It just isn’t right human for me to abandon her, but I suspect if I were the one on the other side of the bed rail…
May 31st, 2007 at 2:48 pm
OMG…your new blog isn’t even 3 days old and already it’s serving a much needed purpose.
Just to let you know my husband would absolutely give you permission to leave that hospital room and go home. He would tell you that your MIL is well taken care of so why do you need to be there? He said that to me more than once when Lynn and I were doing sentry duty at my dad’s bedside the final time he was in the hospital. Needless to say…we didn’t listen to him even though we knew he was right.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Joan, I told my husband if I ever found myself in the hospital I didn’t want company hanging out keeping vigil. I wanted rest dammit! Alas, his family has an entirely different dynamic than mine.
MIL is hearing impaired and that adds an extra facet to the dementia problem. Her hearing aid batteries are dead (her hearing aids aren’t very effective, and she doesn’t sign either), and she won’t make eye contact long enough to read lips. She did try to climb out of the bed twice earlier….I do trust the hospital staff. They’ve been very attentive. I do NOT trust my MIL to remain in her right mind and stay in bed. Bless her heart, those days have passed.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Ugh. Here you go again. A ringing phone in the middle of the night seldom brings any news i want to hear.
I am the same way about the hospital, i don’t want company. When Em was born i didn’t tell my mother until after we were home with her.
Wonder if they can tie her down.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:22 pm
meno, this year I shutter every time the phone rings, regardless of the time of day. Dealing with everyone is like running in a hamster wheel. But, at least I know my way around. I left her bedside when Ole One Eye showed up. His presence will have a calming effect on her, as long as he doesn’t open his mouth too much. He suffers from foot in mouth disease.
She’s better off sedated than tied down, but she snores like a freight train…
May 31st, 2007 at 10:13 pm
girl, a word about the screws in the hip: they can pull out of the bone. this happened to my grandmother and it totally f*cked up her recovery. just make sure they do regular scans of the area so they can be sure that all is in place. you’d think that emory of all places could manage that, but evidently not. now 1 leg is about 2 inches shorter than the other because of improper “healing.”
not trying to depress the snot out of you…just longer recovery makes everyone’s life harder. God love you. you are doing the job that no one wants to do.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:24 pm
liv, thanks for the heads up about the screws. It’s a shame that we often have to rely upon the experience of other patients rather than physicians to get the real scoop on surgery/medical complications. She has so many issues to keep track of now. More than ever I truly understand how seniors get so confused about meds, recovery strategies etc.