Update

Mom's surgery went well. The scary part came after when she showed definite signs of having had another blood clot induced stroke (TIA). She wasn't herself, didn't come out of the medication coma as quickly as we thought, and was uttering gibberish for two days. The doctors assured us that they believed it was just the morphine and we need to give her more time than you would give someone of lesser years. As Averie was trying to feed her dinner, she kept calling her "Trigonometry" and saying in her cute little Kiwi accent that she was "quite fond of Landmabashish" and that she'd like some mailbox with her tea. This morning, she was wide awake as we arrived to feed her breakfast. She was no longer hooked up to any IVs and she smiled and called us all by name. Full recognition and all faculties in place. Whew!

We left her in the capable hands of her Physical Therapist, who was going to try to get her out of bed for the first time since surgery. She asked us to leave this time and said she really didn't want us to see her pain. Funny, she doesn't really know how much pain we've seen over the last few years. But, we honored her wishes. Now, we're on our way back for the lunchtime visit. You see, if we don't go and make sure she eats, she won't. So, we're there for every meal. Hopefully, tomorrow or the next day, she'll be transferred to a rehab facility. I don't think she knows yet that her days of independence are at an end. She'll never be on her own again. Charlie and I want her to come and live with us, but she has somehow managed to convince herself that she'd be "too much of a burden" for us.

I'm having a hard time understanding this "disposable parent" mentality. When my mom was dying of cancer, we were right there. When my dad went into permanant kidney dialysis mode, we were right there. I noticed over the summer when we went back to Hawaii to meet my birth family, that my younger sister had my birth parents come and live with her. Yeah, life wasn't perfect and they may not have been the best parents in the world, but they did the best with what they had. I guess I was just raised with the mindset that you take care of your parents.

Anyway my wonderful Blog family; I want you to know how much I love all of you. Your kind words and thoughts in a difficult time have lifted us. All of us. I read your notes of love and prayers, your hugs from afar that give me the strength to continue to do what I know in my heart is the right thing. Stuart; as always, your words wisely chosen and strung together brought a tear to my eye. Sometimes, I'm not sure the people in my 3d world get it. It can be thankless. I appreciate what you said very much.

Okay kiddos...lunch time at the hospital! We're having Pasta Primavera and peas! Wooohooooo! Love you massively.