Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Frustrated

It was back to work yesterday with a stop at the hospital afterwards. Doris had been showing some improvement, but yesterday was a little discouraging. She woke up good and had her gathers together. The longer she was awake the foggier she got. I got there just as she woke from a nap. She knew me and we chatted about simple things. Within moments she was off somewhere else. The blood pressure is still bouncing around and she's on small doses of anti-anxiety medication to keep her calm. We've been told that with a spike in the blood pressure it can take days to level out and who knows how long to return to a semi normal state.
For the most part there has been excellent communication between family members that are there. Emails and text messages are abundant. Older sister Sue is at the hospital during the day and the rest of us file in after 3. Tempers were remaining at bay until yesterday.
There seems to be an issue with brother Mike. First off it took him a day and a half to show up after numerous calls to him. No excuse-he's off work for the next 6 weeks for a shut down. Claims we didn't explain the seriousness of the incident. I don't know what spell out serious more than "We're losing Mom". After his initial visit he committed to staying with her during the evening hours. He's failed miserably at helping out. He's come to taking command during the few hours he's appeared and has suddenly become an expert in brain injuries. For the sake of my mother in law I grit my teeth and smile a lot when in the room. I thought it was just me until we got outside and my usually meek husband gave him a piece of his mind. Mike is leaving town for a race and will be gone for the next week. I'm not saying we should park ourselves there and I realize one must continue their normal life to prevent an overload however-having a doctor say "She's by no means out of the woods" may make me stick close to home. We made the decision to opt out of camping this weekend. There will always be another opportunity for camping.
As he was telling us about his trip he turned to his daughter who has been at her Grandmothers side as much as she can and asked if she wanted to come along to Tennessee for the race. I saw daggers as she said "No Dad, and I don't think you should be leaving right now either". He feels the rest of the family has it under control. What he doesn't see is his sister is tired and could use a break. He sees himself, which is what he has always done.
My question for the day is-why would you give a person who barely has motor skills spaghetti? I must say I was impressed at Doris's ability to balance a noodle on her fork even if she couldn't get it to her mouth.

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