Not So Routine Visit

My monthly routine trip to visit my mother turned not so routine when I arrived to find out that she was in bed, very sick. And communicative soul that she is, she had sworn my older siblings and her helper to secrecy, because she said she didn't want to worry me and I was coming over the weekend anyway, and would find out then.

The problem is that her sugar levels were sky high (13, instead of the average 4-8) and her blood pressure was 201/111. And she had a tooth infection, so doctors gave her antibiotics which made her nauseous. So he refused to eat. She is getting better though. I cooked my heart out, trying out various meals I hoped would tempt her. And I worked from her bed to keep her company. I knew things were looking up when she said griped: "please tell me that you're not still harvesting the pumpkin!" when I was a couple of minutes late giving her some mashed veges for lunch:-)

I am however very tired. I know it's not physical exhaustion, but emotional. It was hard, seeing how much weight she lost, being able to span leg at the knee with my hand without trouble. It was hard watching her sleep on the bed and look at nothing. I worried that she was tired of life and wanted to leave us. And it brought back memories of my father, wasting away from throat and stomach cancer, unable to swallow solid foods and trying out various soup recipes to give him as much nutritients as possible.

And it was hard having my siblings watch me expectantly, as if they expected me to fix the problem. Make her eat, they said. Tell us what to do to make her get well. And while I'm very good at getting my family to do what I want - somehow I ended up with the role of Cajoler and Chief Bully, even though I'm the middle child with three older and two younger siblings - I wanted someone else to take over and tell everyone what to do.

Anyhoo, I'm now trying to talk my mother into coming to stay with me for a couple of weeks, so I can watch her closely, make sure she stays on track. As usual, she is giving me a hard time ( where did you think my chief bully tendencies come from?). But she didn't say no, and with her, sometimes that's all I'll get. So I'll drag her to Joburg soon:-)

Meanwhile, I hope you're all well. I haven't had the chance to check out your blogs, and with my routine messed up like this, I'll probably only resume my normal work schedule next week.

Anyone attending the Kwanda Klothing Label Party? If you are, let me know.

And if you have two minutes, please take a poll which looks at how we feel about condoms. Are they a necsary evil? Part of the pleasure experience? Or maybe you hate them so much you don't use them?