Keeping all the balls in the air

To say this has been a busy weekend is an understatement to say the least.  Busy getting ready for friends coming to stay on Saturday night when I got one of the dreaded phone calls saying my mum had fallen again.  My first reaction to one of these phone calls is to think 'how on earth am I going to split myself in two?'  My second is to go into full blown panic mode and make phone calls left, right and centre to see who can get to my mum.  My third is to think it all through carefully and work out a strategy which covers as much as is humanly possible.  All of this meant that I went from 'I can't possibly come' to 'I'll be there in an hour if someone can go in the ambulance with her' in approximately half an hour and sure enough that's exactly what happened.  I got to the hospital at 5pm to find her sitting in the waiting room in a wheelchair and that's more or less where we stayed (other than a couple of outings for x-rays and a chat to the doctor) until 11.30pm.  Great excitement accompanied our move to the main section of A & E which lasted until we realised that a bed wasn't coming available anytime soon.  At 2am mum fell asleep in a reclining chair and I went back to her house getting into bed at 3am.  You would think that at the grand old age of 89 years and 11 months this would almost have finished her off but my mum is made of sterner stuff and when I rang at 8am to see how she was it was to be told that she was sitting in a chair at the side of her bed eating breakfast!  They're keeping her in for observation so we have a couple of days where I don't have to worry then it's time to decide what happens next so watch this space.  The best thing about all of this is that Ash rose to the occasion.  He managed on his own for 24 hours without stressing and even thought to ring Jake and tell him what had happened without any prompting from me.  This is where our long history really kicks in.  If I need to deal with something around my mum he knows I need to go and he knows I need his support.  Life is rarely easy at the moment but it does all show that the old Ash is still in there and can rise to the surface in an emergency which is all I really need from him just now and actually several other very positive things have come out of all this but I am so tired that I don't have the energy to tell you about them so that story will have to wait for another day.


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Comments

Ann said…
OMG hope you manage to get some rest Jane. Thinking about you....
Jane said…
Think it's all been for the best actually as mum has realised she can't stay where she is and seems to have stopped trying to hang on to a way of life that she's enjoying less and less.
Jane said…
So you see, there is ALWAYS a positive!
Lesley said…
I have to say, Jane, you and your mum are both incredible! Will look forward to hearing about her progress and in the meantime I hope you get some down time and a decent rest!
Jane said…
I think I've developed tunnel vision so when a crisis occurs I just push my way through to the other side. Haven't quite caught up with sleep yet but will get there I'm sure.