Since my last post mom developed pneumonia and an upper respiratory infection. She's on oxygen now and nearly landed in the hospital. I met the nurse practitioner at 10a today with Henry in tow. I brought an enormous amount of snacks, toys, a book or two and beverages because I had no idea what the day would hold. Fortunately mom rallied after 3 days but she's still not great.
Today, our job was to give her fluids and keep her moving. Henry was going about 100 miles an hour and mom was -2 mph. I hadn't felt this schizophrenic in a long while. I watched H tear down the halls, reminding him to use his 'walking feet', a term I despise and only use under duress. Meanwhile mom was huffing and shuffling and struggling with her oxygen tube and looking pretty weak. After a couple laps around the unit the three of us settled in the front dining room in view of a beautiful bird cage. It's large with little finches flitting around and chirping. It's a favorite spot for us. I got some juice for mom and Henry and we sat and looked at the birds and chatted peacefully. I knew it was too good to be true.
The zombies started moving in once they tracked on H. One kept demanding to find a place to sit even though there were chairs everywhere and the staff kept directing her. She would get up after 45 seconds then try to sit on the arm of another identical chair and get even angrier. Another man, gentle enough, kept pushing chairs in and smoothing them out in a slow deliberate fashion. A baby crazy woman locked in on Henry while she was cradling her own baby doll. Trouble was brewing. So, with swift determination I got mom to stand, shaky as she was, got her hands on the walker and she had a supreme moment of centeredness and strength. Then the baby crazy lady started chasing Henry around a table and the eternally chairless woman started growling at mom. I saw all the momentum slip away as mom fell back into her chair. I scooped up my boy and walked away leaving mom beached and wheezing in her chair. I told the nurse that the zombies started circling like sharks and we had to leave before someone broke a hip. She smiled and laughed and got mom back to her room within ten minutes for the steamy nebulizer mask and a deep shot of antibiotics in the butt. Henry witnessed it all: the shot, the nebulizer(we all joked that grandma was a dragon), the oxygen tubes and the zombies. And mommy just trying to stay glued together with scotch tape and spit.
