[Monday 7/25: 3.2; Wednesday 7/27: 2.75 miles; Saturday: 5 miles]
The week started out quiet but took a sudden turn. On Monday I learned that my elderly mother had been admitted to the hospital.
Since my work is kind of in a lull these days, I was able to quickly arrange a flight out of the local airport to get me there. I arrived Tuesday evening. Since then I’ve been living in the house I grew up in, and taking a daily shift at the hospital during visitor hours.
Mom is recovering steadily.
Dad also needs a bit of company during the day. His memory gets caught in loops with a polite but steady repetition of the same question over 20 minutes or so, then moves on to a different question.
Between the two of them they manage pretty well on regular daily life tasks. But when one is incapacitated the system breaks down.
Dad is at the hospital nearly all day as the rest of us rotate through. Having him there makes him happy and means less people are necessary to cover the needs of both. Also he’s involved with her care which will help them transition to home.
I’m planning to stay a bit longer, hopefully long enough to see Mom come home and get back into the regular swing of things.
Then I’ll go home. But we will be back in about three weeks to go to the Iowa State Fair.