Leaving Mom

I am getting ready to leave my Mom on her own after her surgery. It is a little more difficult than I had thought it would be, but I need to go home, at least for a few days.

Mom and I have a rather full day planned for today. She is going to get dressed for the first time since we left for the hospital on September 2! We are making some really important stops today: the bank, the license tag office and the public library. We are hoping that I can do the standing in line at the tag office, and that they won't require her to come in. The library is a little more of a challenge...I could probably pick out a book or two, but Mom is such a prolific reader that I'm not sure I could find things she hasn't read!

My sister and I had a little "chat" with Mom yesterday about THINGS...like wearing her "I've fallen and can't get up" necklace, instead of hanging it on the bedpost, asking for specific help-which she doesn't seem to be able to do, remembering that the doctor has said no lifting, pulling or pushing...offers of staying at my sister's house, etc. I really think that once we get the staples removed from her incisions tomorrow, she will feel better, but I don't know if I will feel all that much better! If she were eating better, maybe I'd not be in such a snit, and she does seem to be a little better today.

Knowing she is on the mend is wonderful, yet I struggle with the leaving. It is now that I wish we weren't three and a half hours away, that we were much closer, so I could check on her daily, yet let her have her independence. My control issues are bubbling to the surface. I will have to entrust her to the One Who cares so much more for her than I do and do my checking via telephone.