A very interesting day

The house is quiet. I can hear the air-conditioning running. A faint murmur of Jordie and his friends from the Community Justice and Mediation Center committee, talking downstairs.

And I can hear my mom, breathing a bit noisily, sleeping on the living room couch.

She had been in the hospital for a week. They diagnosed microscopic colitis. With an IV, she had begun to look and feel much better. They put her on medication which costs $400/month, but it has been helping with the terrible diarrhea, which is a symptom of that disease.

At the hospital, before she was released Friday, we all had the impression that an Americare nurse would be with her at home all day Saturday. Wrong.

The Americare nurse called at 3 p.m. Saturday. My mom was so upset that she told her not to come that day.

The nurse came this morning, several hours after Mom had been found in the lobby, not totally dressed. And upset and confused. We think that must have been the influence of the sleeping medication she had been given.

She had been without her medication for a full 24 hours, which was enough to start the horrible diarrhea again. And thanks to that very heavy-duty sleeping pill (we think) she fell so hard in the bathroom that she broke the toilet. It wouldn't work. So in desperation, she went down to the lobby to be close to a bathroom.

So, the nurse was helpful this morning, telling us about the medications, etc. And it was a big misunderstanding, I guess, that we thought she would have someone with her in the morning yesterday.

We brought her home with us. She thinks she is going home on Tuesday when we pick up Abby from the airport. But, Jordie says she should stay till her gastrointestinal thing is all better, and I agree. And if this should turn out to be for a longer time, or for good, we are ready for that possibility.

Now that she is at our house, Mom is perfectly coherent and it's good to have her there where we can help her out while she is ill.

Oh, and the Honda minivan chose to overheat just after we left Mom's. So, we left it at her house and brought her car.

And, I'm afraid to turn on the news to even see what has been happening in Israel right now. My heart is full of fear for our family and friends there.

I am sick about what is happening, and I don't have any answers about what is right or wrong. But I'm just worried.

Now, I must go finish cleaning up some stuff out of our bedroom, where Mom is going to sleep. I want to take a nap myself before I go to Vicki's tonight -- there is a prayer service at her house tonight, before she has her mastectomy tomorrow.

I could take a few boring days after this.