Things may be quiet for a bit
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baroque_mongooseIn early October, I think it was, my old mother was taken to hospital with a gall bladder infection. In normal circumstances they'd have whipped it out, but she was already too frail to handle a general anaesthetic, so instead they filled her full of antibiotics. She was in there for most of the rest of the month, and she recovered, but she restabilised at a very low level. In particular, she was now bedbound, her blood pressure being too low to allow her to stand.
So she was discharged, not to her home (where she obviously couldn't have managed), but to a hospital bed in my sister's house. We didn't think she'd last till Christmas, so I went up to see her at the beginning of November, as I think I posted at the time.
Well... she's tough. She'd already survived two lots of cancer plus a head injury which was expected to kill her, or at the very least leave her with severe brain damage; she made full recoveries from all of that. So, of course, she rallied, and she not only lasted till Christmas, but she made it all through January with only one or two scares.
Unfortunately, although given everything she's survived so far I hesitate to say this, I think she's now finally on her way out... which is, to be fair, what she wants. She's nearly 88, she's stuck in bed, and although she's being very well looked after, she's had enough. It's not entirely clear what's wrong, but the general consensus is her gall bladder has probably flared up again. She's barely eating or drinking, she's borderline hypoxic, and when I spoke to my sister yesterday over Zoom she was in the room with her (Mum was fast asleep) and she showed me. Great Scott, she looks ill.
So if I suddenly don't post for a day or two, that will be why. (I may, of course, still post; I don't know. I honestly don't know exactly how this is going to hit me. My father's death a few years ago didn't hit me especially hard, given that he, too, wanted to go, but Mum is for various reasons more complicated.)
Of course, being Mum, there's always the chance she may make a miraculous recovery and demand to know what we were all worried about. I always imagine Terry Pratchett's character Death turning up repeatedly and going "OH NO. NOT YOU AGAIN!" Even so, nobody's immortal.
At least I know I got her that piece of calligraphy in time for her to enjoy it, and it seems to have been a great comfort. So... there's that.
So she was discharged, not to her home (where she obviously couldn't have managed), but to a hospital bed in my sister's house. We didn't think she'd last till Christmas, so I went up to see her at the beginning of November, as I think I posted at the time.
Well... she's tough. She'd already survived two lots of cancer plus a head injury which was expected to kill her, or at the very least leave her with severe brain damage; she made full recoveries from all of that. So, of course, she rallied, and she not only lasted till Christmas, but she made it all through January with only one or two scares.
Unfortunately, although given everything she's survived so far I hesitate to say this, I think she's now finally on her way out... which is, to be fair, what she wants. She's nearly 88, she's stuck in bed, and although she's being very well looked after, she's had enough. It's not entirely clear what's wrong, but the general consensus is her gall bladder has probably flared up again. She's barely eating or drinking, she's borderline hypoxic, and when I spoke to my sister yesterday over Zoom she was in the room with her (Mum was fast asleep) and she showed me. Great Scott, she looks ill.
So if I suddenly don't post for a day or two, that will be why. (I may, of course, still post; I don't know. I honestly don't know exactly how this is going to hit me. My father's death a few years ago didn't hit me especially hard, given that he, too, wanted to go, but Mum is for various reasons more complicated.)
Of course, being Mum, there's always the chance she may make a miraculous recovery and demand to know what we were all worried about. I always imagine Terry Pratchett's character Death turning up repeatedly and going "OH NO. NOT YOU AGAIN!" Even so, nobody's immortal.
At least I know I got her that piece of calligraphy in time for her to enjoy it, and it seems to have been a great comfort. So... there's that.
