Take a Break

15 January, 2018

I love my sister-in-law.  She has such a positive outlook on life and is usually smiling or laughing.  She is interested in everybody.  I don't know anybody else, except Jeri, who is such a pleasant person to be around.

She and her husband, Joe, were in Sacramento for a surprise party for a friend of hers on Friday night, escaping the mudslides of Santa Barbara.  On Saturday we got together with the two of them, with Ned & Marta and with Walt's brother Norm and his wife Olivia.

We went to a nice upscale Mexican restaurant which was nicely decorated with these paper decorations all over the ceiling throughout the place.

We sat at the table and visited while waiting for Norm and Olivia to arrive.  They were driving up from Petaluma.

The restaurant doesn't have an extensive menu, but a nice selection and I had to laugh that when they delivered the plates, everybody but Ned and Marta had ordered the same thing--Enchilada Suisse, which was delicious

We closed the restaurant and then came home.  I sat in the recliner and immediately fell asleep, to be awakened by Walt poking me and holding out the telephone saying it was Kaiser calling.  It was about 11 p.m.

The doctor said that my mother had a fall and that she had broken -- I thought he said her rib, but it was actually her wrist.  The doctor said they would call when she was ready to go, but I knew she would be frightened, so we left right away and drove the 30 miles to the hospital.

My heart went out to her.  She was lying in the bed calling out, softly, "help me.  please help me."  She was happy to see me and the first thing she wanted me to do was to help her to sit up so she could help me.  But we wouldn't let her sit up because I thought she had a broken rib.  We had to fight to keep her down and explain to her over and over again where she was and why she was there.

The doctor finally came in with the supplies to put her in a cast while he sent Walt and me out to the waiting room, where we sat with barfing lady, a poor woman who had a barf bag and made horrible vomiting sounds every couple of minutes, as her bag slowly filled up.  It was lovely.  I was very happy when they finally took her into the back to examine her.

I was surprised to go back into the room and see my mother with a huge cast on her arm.  That's when I realized that she had broken her wrist.   

As I told Jeri this morning, my mother is a lovely woman who is very gracious and will do anything for anyone.  When she first saw me, she was scared in pain but the first thing she said was that she wanted to sit up so she could help me.  But when there is something wrong with her, she can be a real bitch.  She hates the look of the cast and the doctor said she had already torn it off once, so they had to strengthen it.  I had to keep her from trying to tear it off.  She still didn't know why she had to wear it or what had happened to her.

We finally got her into the car but first she complained of the cold, then of the discomfort of the car, and then the wait for Walt to pick up her meds at the pharmacy (many, many times), and all the while picking at the cast.  I got into the back sat with her to keep her from ripping at her cast.

We finally got back to Atria and helped the aids get her settled in bed, though I will be interested to see how they found her this morning.  It will probably take about six weeks for her to be in the cast.

I suspect it will be a long six weeks.