My mother had a stroke on July 12 in the evening at home. She has been in the hospital since then and I will be surprised if she comes home again. However, her spirits are good and her personality is intact. She can communicate her wishes sometimes and tries to talk but really cannot. Her preferences are clear. Her right side is very weak. Two weeks prior to the stroke, she fell and broke her left wrist. I hate to think this, but her immobility after breaking her wrist could have produced the clot that caused her stroke. She was not taking aspirin.
It is very odd to not be able to hear from her. Her viewpoint has been extremely clear over the years and she has had something to say about almost everything. It is weird to not have her voicing her opinion about whatever the topic is. Lately (pre-stroke) she had been saying, "We don't know what the future will bring." Boy was she right. No one predicted she would be in this state. It is hard to adjust to the new reality.
But adjust we must; I hear my old professor in nursing school saying what the primary thing humans do is adapt to their environments. We adapt or die. Mom has adapted. The rest of us are still struggling to do so.
I have been going to Boston on the Alaska non-stop flight every 3 weeks. I will continue to do this for the foreseeable future. I am thinking/planning on reducing my hours at the salaried job at Navos and continuing with the private practice for now. I may reduce or eliminate both jobs at some point and "fly free". Ken is good. Virginia is good. Thomas is non-communicative. Dad is good / reality oriented.
I am "hanging in there".
