déjà vu...

me mum - now and way back when...

the mother was rushed to hospital again last thursday – me brother and i are becoming ‘old hands’ at finding our way around the emergency department and the ‘rabbit warren’ of rooms that make up ward 4 at the alfred hospital…

mind you, it was no mean feat getting her from her flat in st kilda to the alfred with all the roadworks happening at the time – all the dirt and dust in the atmosphere was no doubt a contributing factor to her inability to breath – and yep, pneumonia was part of the diagnosis – along with renal failure (of course, having chronic kidney disease meant that wasn’t a shock!)

after stabilising her there’s not much else they can do for her so she came home late saturday afternoon… they did discover she has no vitamin b12 in her body though so has to have regular supplementary injections (for the rest of her life, however long that will be - no, we're under no illusions, this is the downward slide) – but as she has ‘all her faculties’ and can still ‘live independently’ the dmu (disease management unit) is looking at a plan to provide more ‘carer assistance’ for her… it’ll be interesting to see how long it takes them to draw up that plan… perhaps they’re thinking ‘independent palliative care’ – after all it’s very bleak, ‘slim pickings’ where decent facilities are concerned for poor, low income pensioners – as judy says “all they do is put you in front of a television all day – i can do that myself!”

luckily there is a real sense of community in her block of flats with most residents looking in on each other and providing meals (wanted or not) and offers of assistance (although my mother – hey, my whole family – were brought up to ‘do things for themselves’ and not ask for help) - she’s extremely appreciative of the offers but I just know she won’t take anyone up on it though – she will of course help anyone else that needs assistance but it’s just so ingrained in her to not talk about her own problems and health issues – hey, it’s even hard for her to open up to her children! one of my grandmother’s favourite quotes was “i was sad because i had no shoes until i met a man that had no feet…” when you’re brought up with the view that there’s always someone worse off than you it’s hard to put yourself first because that seems selfish… good old fucking catholic guilt – has a lot to answer for…

for a bit of a relax after all the ‘excitement’ i popped a black raspberry (my favourite fragrance) soy wax melt on, made a mull and settled back to watch a movie - “my house in umbria” – maggie smith is wonderful as the eccentric mrs delahunty – a british romance writer living in a beautiful umbrian villa… whilst on a train ride through the italian countryside there is a bomb blast in the carriage she is sharing with nine others… the devastating blast leaves only four survivors – a disparate group of people whom mrs delahunty invites back to her villa to recuperate and come to terms with their altered lives… it’s a charming movie - happy and sad in equal measure, with delightful scenery - well worth the watch…


the rest of the weekend has been spent doing this'n'that for me mum so now it's time to do my domestic crap... sorry for the unedifying post, but that's been my last few days... ohh, shit - me smoke alarm's going off - me toast must be burning!!!! (it also goes off when when it detects 'excessive' steam from the shower - now that's a pain if i'm enjoying a nice hot shower - good for water conservation though, it forces me to have quicker showers!!)