Taking Care of My Mama - Rockford, IL

A few weeks ago, I drove down to my folk's house to stay a few weeks while my mom recovered from back surgery. I had no firm plans on when I would return except that I needed to be back Valentine's weekend to babysit the grandkids but I could return to Illinois if needed. I arrived a day before surgery and we arrived at to the hospital at 6:00am the following morning.

She had her surgery in the same hospital that Rocketman was born. How cool is that! My mom is 50% Swedish and I'm sure that was one of the reasons she chose Swedish American to have her surgery. Just kidding!

 As we passed by this door, I thought, "I could use one of those in my house!" I was raised in the Salvation Army faith and it was wonderful to have several officers (ministers) arrive to pray with my family and to sit with us as we waited for her surgery to finish.

I received an apology from one of the officers for a wrong that was over 30 years old. It was so unexpected and I was surprised that he hadn't forgotten and that he felt the need to right things. I had not seen him since it had happened. It was a false accusation that had hurt me deeply at the time but I had long since forgotten. But I could tell it was very important to him to apologize and I am truly grateful that he did. 

 My mom came through the surgery with flying colors. The room was so blasted hot that I turned the heat off. But my dad was cold so a nurse covered him in heated blankets. I did turn the heat back on. Heidi and me roasted along with others who came to visit. 

This is my mama the next morning. She originally was told that she would be in the hospital from 5-7 days. When we showed up that morning, she told us that she was going home that day. We couldn't believe it, but it was true. In retrospect, I think it would have been better to stay an extra day. She had an incision about 5" long at the base of her spine and it was tough for her to get along.

My very first job was as a nurse's aide in a nursing home. I recalled many things that helped me with taking care of my mom. First was helping her in and out of bed which was pretty painful for her. The first night home with her, I told my folks that if she needed to get up, wake or yell for me to help. I awoke early the next morning to a huge bang and yelling. My dad had decided to help my mom by himself and tripped over her walker. He did a header into the closet, breaking it off it's track. I jumped out of bed to find my dad sprawled on the floor and my mom trying to get out of bed. I got my dad back on his feet, the only damage being skinned knees and his pride, then got my mom up and off to the bathroom.

I had made and frozen some meals before the trip, so meals were pretty easy. I took care of everything which kept me hopping. I can say I have never watched Fox News, Dance Moms and Jimmy Swaggert just to name a few television shows. I remember my grandmother watching Jimmy Swaggert years ago and I was surprised to see he is still on television. My mom and I both love true life murder mysteries and also watched a lot of ID television. They have satellite television and my dad had even found a Korean television station, Arirang which I watched when my mom was sleeping. I used to watch it a lot when we lived in Korea.

                         While I was there, I tried to declutter one of their closets. I found this.

                                 See when it expired and no, she wouldn't let me throw it away.

                                         But my dad did let me throw this one away:)

One intersection near my folks had this bicycle and I thought someone must have been killed there while biking. But my dad told me that it was a Ghost Bike and they were all over Rockford. They were in memorial to all that have died in biking accidents.

While I was staying at my folks house there was a deadly accident on a two lane road I drove on a lot during my visit and also when I lived there.

The day after my mom came home from the hospital, it snowed close to 12 inches. It was crazy and thankfully my sister's husband, Paul, came over to blow us out. We've had a snow drought in the Twin Cities and I can't say that I miss the big dumps.

My mom ended up kicking me out when I hit just over two weeks. She was doing great, her surgeon's assistant and her doctor were very pleased with her progress and I think she just wanted to get back to normal. She was tired of me saying, "Don't bend over!" Even if it was doctor's orders:) I am doing a separate post on the food. It deserves it's own.