A Pre Christmas Downer

I was feeling pretty good about Christmas.  The decorating was finished last Friday. I think Larry did most of it:)  I got a bit of Christmas baking done.  What gifts we have to buy were mostly done, although not wrapped.  We went to a really fun Christmas Brunch on Sunday with nieces and their hubbies and their 11, soon to be 12, little kids.  (Larry's side of the family).   

Usually I go to see my mother on Sundays, but I told her I wouldn't be there for this one.  I didn't feel too badly about it, as I had been with her on Thursday afternoon when we went to see the plastic surgeon about the sores on her leg.  (Not much was done about that, other than to take biopsies to check for cancer).  

We were driving back home on Sunday around supper time.  The Brunch had turned into an all day affair for some of us:)  The phone call came during the drive, but I didn't hear my phone, buried in my purse, in another bag, in the back seat of the truck.  When we get home I see a missed call from the care home where my mum lives.  I call them back and find out she had a bad fall, has a lot of pain in her hip and has a big cut on the back of her head.  They have called the ambulance and sent her to hospital.  Long story short, xrays and a CT scan show she has broken her left hip but her head is okay.  Her left leg is the one affected by a stroke so she has only partial control over it.  Meredith met me at the hospital and we hung around for four hours waiting to talk to doctors and surgeons.  I've got to say, the nurses and doctors were really great, helpful and informative.  The result was that surgery would be performed today, with a partial hip replacement to be done.  The ball at the end of the femur was replaced with a metal one this evening.  It was a little bit stressful waiting to hear the results, but it seemed to go well.  I had to sign for the level of treatment offered should my mum's heart stop during surgery.  That was the stressful part, second guessing myself about that decision.  Now it will be one day at a time.  Seeing what the therapists can do to help her gain back as much mobility as possible.  While my mum did use a wheelchair all the time, and had lost the use of her left arm and hand, and part of her left leg, she did all the bathroom stuff on her own, dressed herself, transferred herself from the wheelchair to the bed, and even did her own laundry in the bathroom sink with one hand.  I'm hoping she can get that independence back.

85th birthday this summer.  She likes her jewelry:)