The New Bed

While my mother is recovering from her recent illness, one of my sisters was kind enough to stay with Mom for a while on Sunday so I could get a break. We decided to go to the Pacific Rim Street Fest in Old Sacramento.

But we never made it there.

On the way, we stopped at an estate sale. And I found a king size Select Comfort bed for $400. And they were having a half price sale that day. So I bought a $1200 bed for $200.

John doesn't like to sleep in my bed because he says there isn't enough room. I knew I wanted to buy a king size bed in the next few years. I want us to get married and sleep together like normal people. It was a rare opportunity.

We went back home and my sister called her husband. He came over with his trailer and was kind enough to transport the bed home for me.

My sister helped me move furniture around to make room for this huge bed. We put my old full-size bed in my mother's room (after moving her hospital bed to one side).

That night, I slept there in Mom's room. It was kind of fun, like a slumber party. She was asleep when I came to bed.

The next day, I was quite busy taking care of Momma and dealing with a mountain of laundry. I ordered some king-size bedding online, but I didn't do anything with the new bed.

That night I slept in Mother's room again. She coughed until about 5 am. I kept trying to figure out what the problem was. I changed her diaper, I turned her over, I made her bed sit up and lie flat. I talked to her and tried to soothe her. She kept coughing and keeping me awake.

This morning I was exhausted. I left Mother asleep and I went to Big Lots and bought king size sheets. They had some quilts, but they were all hideous. I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and found a pretty quilt. For once, I got some use out of one of those 20% off coupons we get in the mail every week.

Mother slept most of the day. I had a hard time waking her up for dinner. Now she's awake and coughing. But I have a new bed now and I don't have to sleep in her room.

mom's in the hospital

As most of you know, I take care of my disabled mother 24/7. She has degeneration of the cerebellum and Alzheimers and other fun stuff. She cannot speak or feed herself or stand up or go to the bathroom (we use Depends) or even hold her own head up for more than a brief period at a time. She kicks and fusses and waves her tiny stiff fists. It's the only way she can express herself.

Yesterday, she had diarrhea. All day. John called the doctor's office and spoke to the advice nurse. She asked us to check her temperature. It was 101.7˚. For those of you in countries that use the metric system, I don't know what the equivalent is in Celsius. But normal is 98.6˚. So she had a fever.

The advice nurse told us to take her to the emergency room.

I was just about to fix us dinner. It was about 5 pm. So we packed Momma in to the handicap van and took her to Mercy General Hospital. We found a handicap parking space with room to deploy the ramp. As we were walking in, there was a woman walking unsteadily ahead of us. I thought she was maybe drunk or something. We caught up with her at the entrance. She was pregnant, which wasn't apparent from behind. She had been walking unsteadily because she was in labor. It just goes to show, I shouldn't judge. Not that I would have said anything, but I need to keep an open mind.

We checked in, waited for awhile amid people from all walks of life with all sorts of problems. They finally brought us backstage. They lifted her up onto a hospital bed. It was nice to have someone else do it, because I usually do it by myself.

I guess I shouldn't get caught up in the minutia of everything that happened. We were there until about 1 am. We had vending machine pretzels and Diet Pepsi for dinner. John was very patient. I'm sure this wasn't how he wanted to spend his evening.

Momma had an EKG, a chest x-ray, IV antibiotics and saline and double catheters. They finally told us they were going to admit her. Several hours later, we were told that we didn't need to stay with her. I felt bad about leaving her there, but John and I were exhausted and, besides, I was leaving her to professionals.

I called this morning and found out her room number. I came back by myself this morning with my laptop. It seemed heavier than usual to carry along with my purse. This room is on the 4th floor and I used the stairs. Elevators make me dizzy, so I only use them when I'm pushing a wheelchair. Besides, I need the exercise.

So now, I've been sitting in her room for about one and a half hours. I'm still waiting for a doctor to come and tell me what her diagnosis is. I would like to know how long she will be here.

Is it evil of me to think - if she's going to be here for a few days- couldn't John and I take a mini-vacation? We haven't been able to do anything like that for several years.

one afternoon in the mall

one afternoon in the garden