Yes, I praise God Mum's came back home.I wanted to see her smile when she sees our new kitchen, just like she did then when the extension of my house was finished
Mum in the hospital was most of the time drowsy. At home now in one of her good moments
Mum in her sleepy 'moments'. The doctors became concerned about her sleepy-awake cycle and had been trying to figure out what could have been causing the drowsiness, even wanting to do a lumbar puncture to get CSF which I told them however,we all do not consent.
I was cutting out the letters Praise God and Mum while waiting for the ambulance that would brought my Mum back home from the hospital. I was anxious and at the same time afraid not being able to look after her well this time. Mum has been in and out of the hospital before. On the day she was discharged my siblings usually transported her back to my house and I could see Mum climbing up the four steps in the balcony of my house with her happy smile. This time I could envision it would be radically different. She would be coming home by the ambulance. I asked to myself how sick could she be? The doctor rang me telling me she was more responsive than when she first came in plus all the details of what's wrong with her in medical terms.
The social worker had earlier called me also telling me that my mother has serious medical conditions. She asked me if I would be able to look after her at home. I confidently said I would be able to manage. She thought otherwise. She said how could I do on my own what four people do in the hospital to care for her. She suggested I put Mum in a Nursing Home. I reacted strongly and told her this would be like giving her death sentence. I further said the reason Mum is still alive despite her various medical conditions was because of us who are always around her. I told her the truth of the matter is --she still wants to live up to a hundred years old.
The Occupational Therapist later spoke to me also asking about my home. I told her that I've done in the long run all the renovations that would suit an elderly person like my mother. She asked me to come to the hospital so we could talk in person and to see how Mum was doing so I would have an idea how she was in terms of mobility. I told her I would not be able to come as I have to finish the renovations going on in my house. She asked me which was more important-- the renovations or my mother. I plainly said she could talk to my sisters. If my sisters think they would manage to look after her at home, so would I. I further told her I could not have my Mum come back home with the massive clouds of dust everywhere--not with the aspiration pneumonia she was diagnosed on day one and then etc etc as-- she stayed day by day for a total of 23 days in the hospital.
After two days of cleaning till late at night and falling asleep in between, I was a bit ready. I 've cleaned the lounge, the kitchen and dining the hallway going to the room that has two single beds where Mum and I sleep. Mum rarely go to the other two bedrooms anyway and would not definitely be ready to go to the extension.
I had been watching by the window since morning, fell asleep in between for Mum's coming home. As I saw the ambulance pulling over about 3pm, I came out with a cardigan to put over her. It was a bit chilly and had been raining throughout the day except during this moment. I thought God must have withhold the rain to stop for a while because Mum was to be carried to my doorstep.
My heart was not in place as I saw Mum. She definitely was weak as she was carried by two paramedics in a wheel chair. Art, my brother was in the ambulance with her. Cyn and her husband Rene would come later.
Mum smiled when she saw me. I asked her if she was happy to be back home. She said she was. When my siblings left, as broken record as I am I asked her again if she was happy to be back home. She said yes. I asked if she had liked it there in the hospital. She said she did. Why? because my siblings were there all the time and she had a 24h nurse attending to her plus the nurses on different shifts.(I made it like four times out of 23 days to the hospital--as it would take me some six hours by public transport back and forth and as I was already in the middle of house renovation when she had to go to the hospital by ambulance while eating out in a restaurant with Daisy and her fiance).
I asked where she preferred to stay though. She said both. I was shocked and commented if she meant it did not really matter whether she was now home or in the hospital. I asked if she did not like our home this time with the some walls knocked down to give her ample space to move around. She said she liked it certainly.
As light as our conversation, I know it's going to be tough as Mum is not 100% as she used to be as the Health Care Providers put it. However, I know if God is willing and she herself is willing, she would be able to improve her mobility as she did after the her heart failure.
All I could do is to trust God and do all those exercises which Brett and Merle taught me to strengthen my back.
