On Sunday, when my husband and I were not home, my mother (whom lives with us) fell and broke her wrist. The neighbors called for an ambulance. That was not the worst of it.
She had not seen a doctor in over 5 years, so nobody knew how bad her health had gotten. She has a heart condition now, and requires oxygen after smoking for 50 years, even tho I got her to switch to vaping 5 years ago.
It is now my full time job to take care of her, and take her to every doctor appointment. It won't be easy, especially since my back is messed up. I already had lumbar surgery. I am getting her to be more comfortable using a quad cane. Changing her diapers is a big challenge. She outweighs me by about 60 pounds, even though she is 6 inches shorter than I am.
My brother said he will come put in a wheelchair ramp. Right now, I just have a 6 foot ramp made for moving appliances. My sister shows up looking to collect brownie points by shoving her nose in and trying to take over and telling me what I need to do. Thank goodness my migraines are finally under control. Even so, I can only take so much yelling and hollering before I go out the door and find something outside to do.
With my mother's advanced age, it will likely take months for her wrist to heal. She will still have the other health problems. I am glad she trusts me and feels she can depend on me. Several have told her I have the aura of a healer. She calls me her angel. What will suck... is finding somebody to sit with her every time I need to go shopping for anything, or even to go pick up prescriptions.
She may have to cope with adjusting to life with her own new limitations she just learned about, but I have to cope with adjusting to a whole new way of life as well. My husband won't need to adjust nearly as much. Eat, sleep, work, watch YouTube. That's all he does. One thing for him that will change... he won't be dragging me with every time he decides to go someplace.
