Mom came home last night!  She didn’t get home until after 9 p.m. — long long day.  My sister-in-law volunteered to stay with Mom yesterday at the hospital and wait as things progressed toward discharge.  The process was agonizingly long, and she gets major points for hanging in there.  When they finally arrived, Mom, exhausted, collapsed in her chair.

It took several attempts and 7 pillows to get Mom comfortable in bed.  Once we had the pillows and elbows and knees in just the right place, she fell asleep quickly.  I make a mental note to check on hospital bed rentals in the morning.   At 3 a.m., I hear Mom yell out — almost scream.  I sit straight up in bed, and say, ‘what was that’?  My husband mumbles something as I run to Mom’s door.   I can hear her breathing from the hall, nice and even.  I listen for a few minutes and then go back to bed since she is obviously sleeping soundly.  As I pour my morning coffee, I ask my husband about the scream.  He heard nothing.  It is then that I realize Mom didn’t yell at all — well, only in my dream.  I don’t usually dream.  I hate to dream.  Gosh, get a grip.

Mom is up at 7 a.m., and is showered, dressed and fed by 9.  Showered.  Yes.  First one in eight days.  Why don’t hospitals give showers anymore??

I call the pharmacy and then the hospital to track down some help for a prescription that was wrong.  I attempt to call several doctors for post-hospital appointments, but never actually get that done.  I have my grandson again today, we had the first visit from Home Care to register Mom, and the day was just too busy to get to everything on my list.  That’s okay; Tomorrow is another day.

I feed Mom goulash with macaroni for lunch.  I know!  I know!  Goulash should not have macaroni, but that is how she made it when I was a child so goulash-mac it is.   I also decided to make cherry jello with fruit cocktail (Blech).  Does anyone make jello anymore?  But I thought she might take comfort in some of these old-fashioned staples.   I smile as she eats every bite with compliments.  She is easy to please.

So here we go again, one day at a time.  Mom has had a fairly good day — better than I expected actually.  She ate well, watched two Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies, watched more news than is probably good for her (she does enjoy her Fox), and worked on a crossword puzzle.  She had a phone call or two, and wanted to hold the baby for a bit.  That is a good day.

We still don’t have a clear-cut diagnosis/prognosis from any of the numerous doctors she has seen in the last month.  We have new meds, old meds, and discontinued meds.  But still no diagnosis.   I can’t think about it.  We are just going to feed her well, keep her as comfortable as possible, help her to get as much “exercise” as she can tolerate, and pray that she gets better.

I don’t know if she will get better.  No one does — that is abundantly clear after over 20 days in the hospital in the last calendar month!

Only God knows what Mom will face tomorrow.  I’m choosing to trust Him, and try not to worry about it, because He loves her even more than I do.