Saturday, August 16, 2008

Role reversal

My mom is in the hospital after having both knees replaced. She wanted to do both at once so she wouldn't have to go through the pain/recovery/rehab thing again. She's pretty weak and her blood pressure was kind of low yesterday. (She usually runs high and is on meds for that). The doctor wanted her back on an IV for fluids to try to bring it back up. They couldn't find any viable vein in her arms. Not one. At all. She was really drinking a lot and while I was there, it was up a little, but the nurse said if the doc insisted then they would have no choice but to put in a PICC line which all the nurses thought would be a waste since she is supposed to go to a rehab center either today or tomorrow. The only reason why I left last night while this was all up in the air is because the nurses told me they would really fight the doctor on this if they needed to.

Here's where it really gets kind of heartbreaking for me. I was but the learner, now I am the master. The daughter has become the mother. She told me she doesn't have much of an appetite, so I make her at least eat the soup on her tray. *c'mon, you need to eat Baby. Just one more bite.* She tells me she is tired, *thats because you didn't sleep last night, of course you're tired* so I get an extra blanket for her and tuck her in, but as I do that I ask her if she needs to go to the bathroom first. *Make sure you go to the bathroom before you get in bed. I don't want you getting out of bed later.* I made sure the nurses understood that we really don't want an IV if we really don't have to have one. *Please Mommy. Don't make me do that.* But if she really needs one then she does. *You don't have a choice. Just hold still and it will all be over soon.* Leaving her in the care of another woman in her life-her nurse. *Remember Miss Babysitter, Manic's bedtime is 8:00 and no later. Don't let her watch Creature Features, it gives her nightmares.*

I guess what really struck me was that I had watched this many, many times throughout my whole healthcare professional career-daughters doing for their mothers what their mothers had once done for them. I never expected to join that demographic-even if it is short term.
Manic Witch wove her spell:: 8/16/2008 07:55:00 AM ::
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