2003-04-14 - 5:45 a.m.

Voice Mail

I was getting off work on Saturday night. I had an apartment to go take a look at about 30 minutes after I got off work. I turned my cell phone on and was making my way out of work. I stopped just before the door to talk to a couple of players. While I was talking to them my phone beeped.

I had a voice mail message.

So as I was standing there BS'n I dialed into my voice mail box and checked the message. It was from my sister.

My Mom's in the hospital with Pneumonia.

They took her into the emergency ward on Thursday night. She was there for 24 hours and then they moved her to another hospital. Better suited for old people perhaps? I dunno. I guess that's where a bed was.

Anyway, Sounds like everything is going to be fine with my mom. She just let it get pretty far along. Something you shouldn't do when your 62.

You think I am stubborn? Well, I come by it honestly. My parents are two the most stubborn people I know. My dad is dying of skin cancer and he's not doing anything about it because he doesn't want to be disfigured because his is in his face. (I understand his thinking, I'd probably be the same way.) Anyway, I've digressed.

My Mom basically waited until she could barely move, breathe or eat. I think she hadn't probably eaten anything in a few days. [Shaking Head] So, She's got an IV in. She supposed to drink water too to help her re-hydrate herself. She's not supposed to smoke, avoid coffee, do breathing exercises, and some other stuff.

I left the bingo hall and checked out the apartment then went back to my car to use my cell. I called back my sister Jo who called had left the voice mail message. She was already on the defensive explaining things to the Nth degree. I don't think I've ever done this to my sister before BUT I held my cell phone away from ear and let her go on and on. She's very close to my mom and I think she feels whole lot guilty that she someone how let this happen to my mom and that she feels responsible for taking care of her. So far as to when my mom is trying to let my sister carry on with her own life cause their are others to help out as well that my sis feels my mom is mad at her. How retarded.

Then there's my other sister. Who my Aunt (My mom's sister) and Jo are calling "The Sargent Major" or something just as apprapo. She's going "Mom has to do this and this and this" and "she can't have this and this and that". Good god.

Anyway, I was trying to tell Jo to just cut Jewel some slack and cut herself some slack and relax. Mom's in the hospital they are paid professionals there. Let them help mom get better and let us just be her support system. If you wanna sneak Mom some fast food or some coffee then go ahead. She needs "Sinful" things. It's good for her morale.

Being in your 60's and sick with Pneumonia is probably a very scary thing. Mom thought it was her heart. I can understand that because heart failure sometimes does give pneumonia like symptoms. Not to mention if she was having trouble breathing and she was cutting back on her cigarette smoking it probably didn't help. Although they say she's got good lungs other than the pneumonia. Which is nice to know for someone who's spent the majority of their life smoking.

Then there's my dad. He hasn't gone to visit her. I tried phoning him on Saturday night but he never answered the phone. I slept through Sunday before work so I never got a chance to call him. I will today sometime. He's like me (or probably moreso I'm like him) He hates hospitals. Won't go to them voluntarily to visit people. Nope, Not even my mom. [I'm probably gonna break this by going myself on Tuesday or Wednesday just gotta work the logistics out of leaving town.] But

I've gotta drop the hint/reminder to my dad that this is his best friend in the world to him. He needs to stop by and make her day. Even if it's only an hour or half an hour. I know that My Mom would be thrilled. Gotta remind him that if he thinks it's a scary place what the hell does he think mom thinks it is cause she's having to stay there. He's the one that should walk in her room with some piping hot fast food from Wendy's or something. That'd make her fuckin' day.

I ended up calling my aunt because I just had to talk about my hour long conversation with my sister. I swear I am thinking of going there only to blow the referee's whistle. My parents mean the world to my sisters and things like this just send them loopy. It's bad enough they've been watching my dad waste away. (I'm more fortunate I only see him once or twice a year.) This happening to my mom was probably more than they really wanted to mentally handle.

My Apartment problems seem so small when you compare them to things like that but none the less it's part of the life I'm living. Just one step at a time, one day at a time.

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