In a moment.....

Where I have been? When I logged in and saw July 30th, I wondered could I have been away so long? Maybe you wondered too. I have been a lazy blogger before, but I swear that was not it!
I don't know where to start.

I have been losing sleep and doing lots of laundry.

I have spent more than 5 nights trying to sleep in a hospital.

I have been dressing, feeding, and caring for someone who could not do for themselves.

I have been cleaning house and preparing a new bedroom.


No, I am not having a baby. :)

On the morning of August 15, my mother fell down the stairs while she was on her way out to mow the lawn. She is a nurse and knew what had happened, but had no way to get to a phone. After a couple of hours on the landing of the stair, she used a cane to get to down to the bottom of the stairs, but was in too much pain to do any more. She lay on her face in the foyer for the next 12 hours until I found her at 9:15pm. 12 hours. It had been 24 hours since she had had anything to eat or drink on Thursday night. She had tried to yell for the mailman and paper girl, but to no avail.

She weakly said "Be careful" as I opened the door. I was shocked to see her on the floor, but in my mind it seemed that she must have JUST fallen. She told me had a broken hip and that I needed to call 911 because she couldn't move.

Life has been infinitely changed since then.

It is not a life threatening condition (for a 61 year old woman anyway - it can be life threatening for older people) and she has survived far worse, but it has been a challenge.

So that's where I've been for the past month or so. I've been lurking on other blogs when I catch a free moment, but not commenting because - well I just haven't had time.

She spent 5 days in the hospital and had a partial hip replacement. She spent almost 3 weeks in a rehabilitation facility. My neighbor asked "How's mom?" and I responded "Doing ok, she's in rehab." My neighbor laughed and commented "Your mom and Britney!" :) The most amusing part is that my mom does not drink at all.

Mom has been home for almost 2 weeks. On our first day home she had chest pain and I called 911 again. We were whisked back to the hospital and kep overnight, but sent home with a clear heart. Perhaps it was a muscle from using the walker and using her arms so much.

It has been a big adjustment. She is gaining independence each day, but is limited because she has to use the walker. She will not be cleared to drive for awhile as she broke her right hip. She can't bend, so everything has to be at waist level. Her bedroom, etc had to be moved to the first floor. There are a lot of assistive devices that she has been learning to use to dress herself, etc (try putting on socks when you can't bend at the waist or lift your foot). She's considering whether she should get a device that you can push if something happens. It seems that she is too young, but really - it can happen to anyone.

That's my month or so in a nutshell. I would like to be better about blogging, if only to remember all this in the future. ;)