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mousme My father left for a working trip to Hanoi last Sunday, and I've been calling my mother every day since then to check on her. This is the first time that I've been actively worried about my mother when my father's been away that I can recall. The main reason I'm worried is that my mother took a header into a store window a few weeks ago. I was looking through my entries to see if I mentioned it when it happened, but I apparently didn't, so I'll give a bit of background first.
For those of you who are new (or newish) to this LJ (hi, people from the friending meme!), my parents officially qualify as Elderly™ even if they don't act it. My mother is going to be eighty (!!!) in March, and has stage 2 emphysema, glaucoma (on top of not seeing well to begin with), and osteoporosis. She also has a bad hip, and refuses to take her walking stick with her when she goes out, because she's stubborn. We got lucky this time with the grocery store incident. My godmother (who is considerably younger than my mother and has a driver's license) happened to be there entirely coincidentally, and so she was able to step in ahead of all the useless do-gooders and make sure my mother was taken care of. My mother hit her head hard enough to split open her forehead, and she rocked two black eyes and a serious goose egg for weeks. The goose egg is still there, in fact, though everything else has healed up nicely.
Because she is my mother, she refused to go to the hospital to be checked for a concussion, and I didn't find out about it until nearly two days later, whereupon I read both her and my father the riot act. He sheepishly took her for x-rays the next morning, and all appears to be well. Like I said, we got lucky. It could have been *so* much worse. She could have fractured her skull, or broken any number of bones, thank you osteoporosis.
So I'm worried because now she's by herself, without my physically healthy father there to keep an eye on her. I am a minimum of two hours away in good weather, which means that I can't get there quickly in an emergency. Anyway, in an attempt to assuage my worry (and the attendant guilt), I've asked my godmother to please check in on her while my father's gone for the next three weeks or so. My godmother is leaving town on the 17th, but it's still better than nothing, I guess. I may call my other godmother and ask her to check in as well, just in case.
In the meantime, my mother has been slightly less stubborn these last few days, and has agreed to at least update her emergency contact information and have it clearly visible on her person at all times. We've also got a plan in place for when she leaves on March 1st to join my father in Paris, since she'll be traveling alone. She's agreed to request assistance at the airport in order to get shuttled around by their services, which is reassuring. I don't like the idea of her tottering around while people who are in a hurry rush around her, increasing her risk of getting knocked over. Last time I traveled with her I often had to physically interpose myself between other people and her because they simply weren't looking where they were going.
In more local news, the dog is having yet another bout of gastrointestinal distress. He's still in fine spirits, eating and drinking fine, so I'm not overly worried about him. The inconvenient part is that he asks to go out every 1-2 hours while I'm trying to sleep, and it is exhausting. I've had about four hours of broken sleep today as a result (I got home late from work because I was discussing union stuff with a coworker—more on that later), and am not looking forward to another twelve-hour night shift after that.
I was going to go into detail on another subject, but I just saw that it was ten to five, which means I have to get my act in gear for work. I have no idea where the time went today, but I have twenty minutes or so before I have to leave. I will come back to discuss Star Wars: The Clone Wars (I have begun watching on the recommendation of friends, and so far have mixed feelings), as well as the Hugely Complicated Issue Of Becoming Unionized At Work And Attendant Other Things™.
See you on the flip side, LJ!
For those of you who are new (or newish) to this LJ (hi, people from the friending meme!), my parents officially qualify as Elderly™ even if they don't act it. My mother is going to be eighty (!!!) in March, and has stage 2 emphysema, glaucoma (on top of not seeing well to begin with), and osteoporosis. She also has a bad hip, and refuses to take her walking stick with her when she goes out, because she's stubborn. We got lucky this time with the grocery store incident. My godmother (who is considerably younger than my mother and has a driver's license) happened to be there entirely coincidentally, and so she was able to step in ahead of all the useless do-gooders and make sure my mother was taken care of. My mother hit her head hard enough to split open her forehead, and she rocked two black eyes and a serious goose egg for weeks. The goose egg is still there, in fact, though everything else has healed up nicely.
Because she is my mother, she refused to go to the hospital to be checked for a concussion, and I didn't find out about it until nearly two days later, whereupon I read both her and my father the riot act. He sheepishly took her for x-rays the next morning, and all appears to be well. Like I said, we got lucky. It could have been *so* much worse. She could have fractured her skull, or broken any number of bones, thank you osteoporosis.
So I'm worried because now she's by herself, without my physically healthy father there to keep an eye on her. I am a minimum of two hours away in good weather, which means that I can't get there quickly in an emergency. Anyway, in an attempt to assuage my worry (and the attendant guilt), I've asked my godmother to please check in on her while my father's gone for the next three weeks or so. My godmother is leaving town on the 17th, but it's still better than nothing, I guess. I may call my other godmother and ask her to check in as well, just in case.
In the meantime, my mother has been slightly less stubborn these last few days, and has agreed to at least update her emergency contact information and have it clearly visible on her person at all times. We've also got a plan in place for when she leaves on March 1st to join my father in Paris, since she'll be traveling alone. She's agreed to request assistance at the airport in order to get shuttled around by their services, which is reassuring. I don't like the idea of her tottering around while people who are in a hurry rush around her, increasing her risk of getting knocked over. Last time I traveled with her I often had to physically interpose myself between other people and her because they simply weren't looking where they were going.
In more local news, the dog is having yet another bout of gastrointestinal distress. He's still in fine spirits, eating and drinking fine, so I'm not overly worried about him. The inconvenient part is that he asks to go out every 1-2 hours while I'm trying to sleep, and it is exhausting. I've had about four hours of broken sleep today as a result (I got home late from work because I was discussing union stuff with a coworker—more on that later), and am not looking forward to another twelve-hour night shift after that.
I was going to go into detail on another subject, but I just saw that it was ten to five, which means I have to get my act in gear for work. I have no idea where the time went today, but I have twenty minutes or so before I have to leave. I will come back to discuss Star Wars: The Clone Wars (I have begun watching on the recommendation of friends, and so far have mixed feelings), as well as the Hugely Complicated Issue Of Becoming Unionized At Work And Attendant Other Things™.
See you on the flip side, LJ!
