Sweet Yet Sour

For my birthday – My mom is back!

Friday, May 30th, 2008 | The Daily Special | 3 Comments

Almost a month has passed since my birthday, but I’ve been busy so I haven’t had time to write this post.  For my birthday I got a lovely pot rack from Mike (see his Cameraphone picture of it here), which Mike and my dad hung this last weekend. 

As much as I love my new copper pot rack, the most important part of my birthday is that I feel as if I have gotten my mom back. 

As my regular readers know, this odyssey began on February 6th, when my mom went in for what was supposed to be a routine surgery to remove her gall bladder.  Instead, it turned into a nightmare of multiple surgeries, two weeks in ICU and then several weeks in the recovery area of the hospital.  She was really sick and for a while it seemed that the doctors were not able to figure out what had gone wrong (we think there might be some medical malpractice at play).  At the lowest point, my mom was unable to walk, talk, or eat and had seemed to have lost parts of her memory. 

During this time, my sister and I visited our mom when we could and for several weeks came home crying after we visited.  I was eight months pregnant and a little emotional anyway, but I really cried the day that my mom’s primary care doctor pointed at me and asked my mom, “Who is that?” My mom simply stared at me without recognition, when she had just been able to tell the doctor the exact year that my dad began his teaching job.  

My sister and I worked hard to get my mom to practice walking down the hallway of the hospital and organizing her friends to do the same on the days that we were not able to visit.  Sometimes when I would try to get my mom to walk she would grimace at me and say, “No” with an anger I have never seen – nor hope to ever see again.  It felt like I was torturing her, but I so wanted her to get better that I would force her to walk with me down the hall.  I kept reminding her that the baby was due soon and I needed her help.  My dad spent every minute he wasn’t teaching at the hospital taking great care of my mom; so much so that he rarely ate a meal during these weeks. 

I learned that my mom has some awesome friends and that when they are organized they are a force to be reckoned with.  They visited my mom sometimes several times a day, talking to her, giving her foot massages, making inspirational cards for her, and when we asked them to, they packed lunches for my dad to eat while he visited her in between class and his lab sessions.  It’s a testament to how great my mom is that she has such wonderful and devoted friends.

Finally, in March, my mom came home, but she was much changed from the woman she was before the surgery.  She did remember us at that point, but she could only walk a few steps with the help of a walker.  She tired easily, couldn’t concentrate long enough to read (which she loves to do), wasn’t able to talk much, and still was only eating small bits. 

I’m really proud of my mom for the progress that she has made these past few months.  She was determined to get better and she has almost returned to the way that she was prior to the surgery.  For my birthday, she and my dad ventured up to my house, and spent a lot of time holding the baby. 

She gave me an awesome slow cooker for a present (it’s huge and programmable!) and she made me my favorite birthday cake – whipped cream roll.  She also got me the latest book in the Precious Ramotswe series, and now that I have finished the book, she’s had a chance to read it as well.  My mom has also returned to doing the New York Times crosswords every day and unfortunately for her, she’s making dinner every day as well (I know she gets tired of making dinner). 

This week my mom went on a hike up a tough trail with my dad and their dog and returned to one of her favorite spring time activities – collecting wild asparagus for dinner.  She’s returned to making granola and yogurt, walking the dog and working in her garden.  I talk to her every day now and as horrible as it was when she was sick, I try to remember it so that I keep in mind how far my mom has come in the past few months.

I love my mom and really hated it when I wasn’t able to talk to her every day while she was sick.  I told her on Mother’s Day in her card that I will never take her for granted again.  I hope to keep that promise, because my mom truly is a wonderful mom and a great friend.  I’m so glad to have her back!