Whoa! Didja get the numbers off that truck?!?

June 15, 2002 - 10:20 p.m.

I broke my mother

The trip was a success, despite the ominous headline. Our flight arrangements clicked and before long we were in The Realm of the Hellish Blast Furnace. 108 degrees, a new record. Newt and I got to mom's digs in greater than short order, and my brother and his Main Squeeze were already there.

My sister picked a great place for mom to live. It's in a residential neighborhood because it started life as a regular house. There are bedrooms and bathrooms for the elderly residents, but it hasn't lost its homey feel. The best part is they live together and socialize much more than what she would do in her former setting. Plus they have a big mixed breed dog that lives there to keep the folks company, and provide therapy. Any place with dogs is okay with me. Petting a dog is good therapy.

So we were all lauging it up and having a good time telling stories from the past and present. I think mom liked having her kids around her in the moment. I thought she looked great, and I was wondering about all this medical trauma I'd been hearing about up until now. It seemed to me that she was in good shape.

She had another stroke at 7PM that night. They admitted her to the hospital, she couldn't talk or move her right arm and leg. Newt and I didn't hear about it until the next day due to cell phone mixups.

We visited her in the hospital that next day. She was talking, laughing actually. It was good to see her laughing. She was able to squeeze Newt's hand but could not release it. We left after Newt fed her som pureed lunch (?)

We returned later that evening and she had improved even more. Now she was squeezing and releasing her hand. Still no action from her leg.

Mom apologized for the visit being "such a bust". I asked her why she would think that. She looked around at the hospital setting. I told her that seeing her, in any setting, was good enough for me. I told her she didn't have to apologize for things she couldn't control.

We said our goodbyes. We got on our overbooked red-eye flight. I arrived back home this morning after two hours sleep on the plane. I had just enough time to get back home to change and put in eight hours today at work.

the last one -*- the next one