Yesterday after posting on this blog, i set about to do some things i had promised to do..pay some bills, and then drive up to my mom's to see if i could get her computer working correctly. I do this about every six month to year, driving the 75 miles to her house to do routine maintenance on an aging HP desktop running Windows Millenium Edition, a pre XP operating system. I stopped on the way and got some fast food, and while in the drive thru waiting for my order, called her to make sure she knew i was on my way. She told me she was waiting for an ambulance and couldnt talk.
I called one brother, with no answer, so i called the other brother and spoke with his wife. He was with his daughter doing something with some of their cattle, but she filled me in on what was going on, since my aunt had called there right before me. My mom was having another bout with pain and gastric issues. we talked a bit and then after i got my food, I drove a short ways and parked, eating and thinking.
I went to my brothers house and we discussed what to do with mom. She is extremely overweight, is rapidly losing her mobility, and lately has not been taking care of herself. my sister-in-law said that unless my niece goes and cooks for her, she only eats packaged things like cookies, donuts, cakes...all bad for her. Her recent illnesses have all been attributed to poor diet and lack of exercise; she fired the therapist we hired, and refuses to have in home care. I said that although we might not want to do it, we might have to force her to accept care from a non-family member. Finally, my brother and I went to the hospital to see her.
She looked bad. By that I mean my mother has always been a clean person, yet she smelled like she hadn't bathed in awhile, and her hair which is usually perfect was flat, dirty and not at all like she usually looks. They had started an IV, and after we had visited her some, the nurse asked us to leave so they could do some other tests and add electrolytes to her IV. Our aunt was allowed to stay.
My brother and i went, returned to his house and discussed some options our aunt had provided. her husband had been an invalid until he died recently, so she had a lot of home care advice, which my brother will get for us to follow up on.
Upon leaving later that afternoon, I was going to take a back road I remember from years ago, but apparently I was not thinking straight, and ended up on some roads i had never been on before. I did manage to get back to a place I knew where I was, partly due to a map I had, and my car compass (digital basic north south east west)
I also managed to embarass myself- after travelling these roads for about an hour, and swilling water from a quart I had bought on my way up, I was becoming painfully aware I needed to let some fluids back out. So on a deserted dirt farm road, I began looking for a place to "wee"...and finding said place, pulled over, went to the back of my Jeep for some tissue(I travel prepared) I walked off the road a bit and after assuring myself there were no houses around nor any people, I squatted. It was while cleaning myself I looked down the road, and noticed a man standing there about 300 feet down the road staring at me. Where he came from I have no idea. He must have seen me stop, and no doubt watched me. I quickly pulled up my panties and jeans, and walked quickly to the car, and as i drove away, he stood there motionless staring.
