It's Been a Rough Couple of Weeks

Last week, my 80 yr old mom had knee replacement surgery. The first day was horrible because she was in so much pain. Just shoot me before I have to endure something like that!! She was in the hospital for 4 days and on morphine. My mom and morphine do not mix well. The first time she had it about 7 years ago, she didn't even know me or my sister but remembered to ask about my dog. This time she knew me, but had a different experience with it. One time I'd see her, she would be happy and nice to everyone who came into her room and then the next time, she would be saying that they were totally ignoring her. On Day 3, she said and I quote "If I had lots of money, I would call a cab and get out of here." When I told her she couldn't leave, she said "If I had a lot of money, I could." She said they were totally ignoring her. When I asked her what was wrong, she said "I don’t have a phone book or my glasses. I don’t have anything and I thought you were going to bring some things up here." I told her that the tote bag was in her closet and she told me there was nothing in the closet and that the only thing she had was her little makeup bag (which was in the tote bag). She said she was going to call one of those investigative reporters about that hospital. It took me a couple of days to figure out that when she was happy, it was because she'd just had a dose of morphine and then as it wore off, she had a totally different opinion on everything. I told Bret that no wonder there's a nursing shortage! If I was a nurse and had to deal with that all the time, I'd be drinking on the job.

Last Saturday, October 25, she was moved to a nursing home for her rehabilitation and therapy. That was off to a rocky start when we discovered that the remote control for her TV did not work and I assumed she would have a phone in her room like she did in the hospital. We didn't know that you had to pay for a phone so she was incommunicado until the following day when I took her cell phone to her. By that time, she was good and mad - not being able to change the channel on the TV and unable to call anyone to help her break out of there.

I can't wait until she's a little farther along in her recovery and I'm going to tell her some of the nutty things she said. I doubt that she'll remember them because her memory was fading in and out the whole time she was on that wacky juice.

We have her dog, Nick, for a while and for the first time in his life (he's 8), he is playing with another dog. After the first day or so, he started doggy wrestling with Dakota. I was shocked to see her playing a submissive role since after all, she is the QUEEN. I kind of wonder if it's a male/female thing because she doesn't react to Brittany's dog, Bella, the same way.