Assorted
RoRo broke her fell and broke her hip a week and a half ago. She had hip replacement surgery and spent 5 days in Mercy San Juan Hospital. Visiting her there, just weeks after my own stay there, was super-creepy: same lights, same sounds, same routine and uncomfortable procedures. She was even dressed in an identical hospital gown as the one I had. Yuck. She is now at Eskaton in Fair Oaks; she’s receiving care and physical and occupational therapy there. She’s ornery and bitchy and extremely demanding. But this is better than the wacky and delirious ramblings she was spouting after the surgery. Day by day she gets more lucid and normal. The bizzare things she’s been saying are evidence that surgery is traumatic to the body and the brain, especially to older people, they tell us. I’m happy that she is now less confused. We’ve been visiting her every other day or so, but I can never stay for more than a couple of hours. She wants to hold Asher the whole time I’m there. If I have to take him back from her, to feed him, for instance, she pouts. If I have to leave to pick up Lucas, she pouts. If I don’t come every day, she pouts.
I’m working a tiny bit. I have a client who would like me to be working more on a project that has a fast-approaching deadline. I have to buckle down and do it because I’ve made a commitment, but it’s hard. Asher is taking up all my time. Although he sleeps a lot, he doesn’t sleep very well or long when I’m not holding him. I’ve been getting computer time in chunks of 10 minutes here and there–not enough to accomplish much.
Lucas is doing well, although I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that sometimes he drives me crazy. I’ve been trying to keep him busy with fun things, play dates, etc. He has two weeks of spring break coming and I don’t know if we’ll both survive it. I can see that he is changing. His fifth birthday is only a month away.
I compose many LJ posts in my head but cannot seem to find a moment to input them, and before I know it, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to say. I rarely have two hands free and there are just so many jobs around here that require two hands!
I’m not getting enough sleep. I need a big 6-hour chunk and it’s just not gonna happen. This is discouraging at times. Thank heaven for 5-HTP. I’m taking two capsules per day and I think it’s helping my mood. I wish I had known about it when Lucas was an infant. Perhaps with it I wouldn’t have been so down and bluesy all the time.
My days are full of caregiving, household chores, occasional lunches out with friends or Ian, nursing, napping, and boredom.
March 29, 2007 at 12:00 pm
See, what you gotta do with family (RoRo) is just be a total fuck up and never come around at all. That way, when you *do* show up, they’ll be so excited to see you it will be like a ticker tape parade. No more taking you for granted! My brother is the master at this. It really works. 😉