Tuesday, December 04, 2007

If It Bothers Me, I'll Blog About It

My mother just called me to tell me she's sick. It's 10:30 at night and I had had a really long, tiring day and was looking forward to a peaceful evening reading (or blogging!) in bed, when the phone rang.

My mother had a cold when I saw her on Saturday but it didn't seem bad; now she tells me she has a bad cough and she isn't feeling at all well.

Mauigirl: Should I take you to the Emergency Room?
Mother: Oh no, I don't want you to do that.
Mauigirl: Maybe I should call an ambulance.
Mother: Oh no, not that.
Mauigirl: What then?
Mother: Can you take me to my doctor tomorrow?
Mauigirl: (thinking of the back-to-back meetings on her schedule) Um, let me check my schedule...yes, after 2:00 I could take you.

So the upshot of it is I'm going to call my mother's doctor first thing in the morning and get her an appointment for about 2:30 p.m.

My mom is 89 and she had pneumonia last year, so I don't want to take any chances. She had a pneumonia shot this past year which is supposed to last several years, so I'm hoping that isn't what she has this time...but she could have bronchitis or something and need antibiotics. She is always so healthy - and so stoical in her New England way - that for her to admit there is anything wrong is a bad sign.

My mother always has a talent for doing things like this...she waits to tell me things until it's too late to do anything about them until the following day. I know she holds off on telling me things because she doesn't want to worry me or bother me at work, but sometimes that makes it worse.

So now I'll worry all night about her, and will continue to worry until I get her to the doctor.

I guess I should look on the bright side; now I can focus on worrying about my mother instead of the fifteen other things that were bothering me before this came up.

Today's Haiku:

It's always something
The job, the pets, the parents
Life is getting hard.

10 comments:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

"If It Bothers Me, I'll Blog About It"
It's worked for me!:)

Fran said...

Hey Mauigirl- sending good thoughts your way and your mom's way of course!

It is hard indeed. Hang in there and please let us know how it goes.

Anonymous said...

I suppose you found the bright side in this. The haiku says it all.

Hope your mother's cold gets better soon and that it doesn't turn into anything else.

pissed off patricia said...

Ditto to what most of the others have said. Hopefully your mom is just a bit frightened due to he last bout with pneumonia and wants to be extra careful.

It's just like Gilda's character used to say on Sat. NIght Live,"It's always something".

Mauigirl said...

Thanks all - and I sure remember Gilda Radner's phrase - so true.

I got an appointment for her this afternoon at 3:00 and I talked to her this morning so I think she'll be OK.

Last time the doctor had said he'd hospitalize her for the pneumonia last year if it didn't get better, but my mom is very resilient and the antibiotics did the trick, so I figure they will this time too.

Personally, with all the nasty drug-resistant bugs in the hospital, I'd rather she never go into one! And luckily, so far, the only time she ever has beenin a hospital was to give birth to me back in 1953!

And the woman smokes a pack a day...

TomCat said...

Maui, I hope she feels better soon. Try not to worry.

Mary Ellen said...

Hope your mom is ok.

My mom is the same way. A couple of months ago, she called me up at 6:30 in the morning and asked if I would take her to the hospital because she was having chest pains. Then, get this...she said she was having them all night but didn't want to wake me up,and she didn't want to call an ambulance because "they charge you $200 you know!"

Needless to say...I had her to the hospital in no time and the whole time I was driving to her place I was cussing and swearing up a storm because I was scared to death. She was fine...turned out she had a broken rib...which is a story in itself (she explained it while we were sitting in the emergency room after the cardiogram.

I think my mom is getting back at me for all the gray hair I caused her..now I'm getting the gray hair.

All my prayers are with your mom, and you, kiddo. Being caretaker for a parent isn't easy work.

Mauigirl said...

Thanks, Mary Ellen, sounds as if you have a similar mom to mine!

All is OK - we got her to the doctor today and it's bronchitis. So she has now taken her first dose of antibiotics and I'm sure she'll be on the road to recovery soon. Thanks for everyone's concern and good wishes!

Evil Spock said...

Hope she gets better; its probably nothing, I hope.

Like the haiku! You've filled the Haiku vacuum of Evil Spock's neglected twitter!

Dorothy said...

Your mom is very lucky to have you. I wish her better health and commend you for your love for your mom. Wishing her better health.

My best,

Dorothy from grammology
call your gram
www.grammology.com