COSTING VALUABLE TIME
My sister and I had moved to the foot of moms’ bed allowing the nurse
room to administer another dose of
anti nausea medicine through the precariously placed IV. Moms’
veins were so fragile it had taken several attempts to get the IV started; there was concern if it became dislodged from the back of her wrist,
they would not be able to start another one.
We were all holding our breath as the nurse sterilized the cap, other
than the beeping from the various machines monitoring mom, the room was silent.
The silence was broken by loud
rumbling. We all looked at each
other as the sound returned. We were all staring at mom as she started heaving
again; her stomach sounded like a small volcano erupting. Evidently we had all become complacent; not
one of us handed mom the blue bag. Luckily the IV did not dislodge as mom jerked her hand away from the nurse as she grabbed for the emesis bag. This
time she NEEDED the bag!
For the next half hour (which seemed like an eternity) we handed mom
bag after bag; each one held a fair amount of what looked like old coffee
grounds. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vomiting-blood/MY00571 I knew the implications of this new
development could be as simple as the aspirin regimen she had been on or it could be much more complicated; much more serious. Moms’ stomach finally quit thundering, she
laid her head back and closed her eyes; she was exhausted.
With mom now sleeping and the nurse monitoring her closely, I consulted with the voices in my head and decided I better get some things done while I had the chance. I needed to
sleep, but I had a "to do" list a mile long.
After running a number of errands, I met up with my daughter. We visited the venue where she would be
married in just four days, made notes on what still needed to be done and a list of items needed for
the rehearsal dinner. I dropped my daughter off and headed for the
grocery store.
While I was putting away the groceries, I called the ladies from the
church who had offered to sit with mom on Saturday. I didn't think mom would be home anytime soon.
“Let us know if anything changes”, they told me they would keep their
calendar open “just in case”. I made
several other calls as I stared in to the refrigerator, wishing something
sounded good; nothing did. I was glad
the calls were done; I didn't want to talk to anyone else tonight.
I had no sooner set my phone on the table before it was ringing
again. I was startled to see moms’ cell
phone number pop up on my caller ID. Who
would be using her phone? In the seconds
it took me to accept that call my mind conjured up a half dozen scenarios of
why someone would be calling from moms’ phone; none of them surprised me as
much as the voice on the other end of that call.
“Hi”, my mother sounded weak, but cheery as she continued, “How are
you?” I marveled at my mothers’
character; even while lying in a hospital bed she worried about everybody
else.
I was amazed at how much better mom looked when I arrived at the hospital. It was like night and day. When I had left a few hours earlier, I wasn't sure mom was going to make it through the day; what a difference
a few hours had made. “How are you
doing?” I asked as I stood by her bed. Mom told me, since the nausea had passed and
she had gotten a couple hours sleep, she felt pretty good.
“I’m sorry, I know this is messing up your week”, my mother looked
so sad, “How many people are coming to dinner Friday?” she wanted to know. I held back the tears when mom smiled and
said, “I almost made one of my
goals”. I sounded hollow and neither of us believed me when I told her there was still a chance she would make it to the wedding. I asked mom if she wanted to
pray; she did. |
| http://spirituallythinking.blogspot.com/2011/12/receiving-without-asking.html |
After our collective prayer, we both fell in to silent prayer. I continued praying for God to comfort our
family and guide us through whatever was to come. I kissed mom goodnight and added a number of
post scripts to my prayer as I drove home; I added more as I drifted in to a
sound sleep.
With renewed energy and a feeling of hope, I woke nearly twelve
hours later. Other than the dog prancing
around and giving me the sad eye look to let me know I had slept through her usual breakfast time, the house
was quiet. It was like I had
been offered a morning of solitude; time to gather my thoughts. It also gave me time to formulate a
contingency plan. At this point, I had no idea if mom would be home or not but I
needed to make sure I was prepared either way.
Regardless of moms’ condition, I had to be a smiling Mother of the Bride
in three days; a gracious hostess for the rehearsal dinner in two. YIKES!
Luckily, my imagination didn't have time to shift in to over drive
before the phone rang; afterward it was turbo charged!
I hate when “UNKNOWN” shows up on the caller ID; either someone is
trying to sell me something or it’s from the hospital (which was much less
likely). I wasn't going to buy anything
and I would be to the hospital within a couple hours; should I answer it? Or not?
The voices in my head argued too long and the phone stopped ringing
before I had made a decision.
OK, admittedly, the lack of making a decision was a decision in and
of itself. Unfortunately, the lack of
decision meant now I had to make another decision.
Should I continue with the errands I was going to run before the
phone rang; errands that had to be taken care of? Or, should I go check on mom first in case
the call was from or about her. I didn't remember putting it to a vote, but the voices weighed in anyway.
I had a talk with the “voices” as I abandoned the myriad of errands and drove straight to the hospital. They had to quit interfering with my decision
making abilities; the voices were COSTING VALUABLE TIME!
2 comments:
Even though I know what happens next...I can't wait to read it! Love you sis! <3
I have to wait for the voices to give me the words! lol Love you too!
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