Monday, June 15, 2009

Arsenic and Old Ladies


I'm back and I have a good excuse for not posting for a long time, I've been busy dancing attendance on these two lovely ladies.  On the left is Mother in Law and on the right is Grandmother.  I love them both dearly but Oh. My. God.


Notice the walker in front of Grandmother.  She fell last week and conked her head on her bathroom counter hard enough to give her one hell of a concussion and make her brain bleed inside her skull.  She's fine now but was in the hospital overnight and the doctors adjusted her meds and instructed her to use a walker if she doesn't want to fall again and risk much worse consequences than a giant goose-egg on the back of her head.

This is her third fall requiring a trip to the emergency room but only the first that was a wake up out of a dead sleep and stumble outside to the car trip.  Thank God for small mercies.  I was scared to death once I felt her head and thought for sure that she had a fractured skull.  But damn if she isn't one tough cookie.  I'm pretty sure she's made out of flubber.

The last time she fell was ALSO during one of Mother in Law's visits.  I think Grandmother gets jealous of the attention.

Mother in Law is doing ok.  Her health is a lot worse than it was last year and communicating via sign language and elaborate games of charades is still exhausting but she's here and its going well.  The Things spend hours with her learning farsi and playing games, they are so unbelievably patient with her it just blows my mind.

She will be with us for another two weeks then will stay with husband's brother and his family for three weeks and then she will go home.  I suspect this will be her last visit here, especially if her health continues to deteriorate, so we are enjoying her while we've got her.  (Except for shopping, I LOATHE shopping with two old ladies.  It's like taking turtles for a walk.  And stopping every foot or so to examine everything in every fucking aisle.)


Here's me and my favorite crotchety old lady.

And my diet started today, apparently a side effect of going back to school is weigh gain.  Joy.

11 comments:

ChiTown Girl said...

I promise I'm not trying to scare you or be a Debbie Downer, but while I was in grad school, I gained 60 lbs. Ah, yeah, I did!! I'm the epitome of a stress eater! :(

Shelly... said...

Have I told you recently that I think you are a Saint? Well, I really mean it! I'm bummed that I won't see mother-in-law this trip! I like looking at her, smiling, and nodding my head.

Shelly... said...

BTW, what the hell is Nannie doing with a doll in her lap?!

Anonymous said...

You always have such awesome hair days! I'm jealous.

Of course, it'd probably help if I actually put some work into my hair.

Your grandmother sounds lovely.
You are lucky to have her around :o)

And she's lucky to have you helping take care of her.

Yo said...

they're so cute!!

Jason, as himself said...

Man. Scary stuff, these old timers! You and I will never be old, right?


I'm glad your grandmother is okay. Crotchety as she is.

Jason, as himself said...

Great post title, by the way!

MOM #1 said...

Yeah, I like the post title too. I guess you've seen that old movie too, LOL. I thought I was the only one.

The ladies are lovely. I have a serious soft spot for the elderly. I'm sorry about the fall. I'm glad she's ok. That sounds super scary.

Please don't tell me any weight gain horror stories. I'm just picking out classes for next fall. Shoot! I barely fit into anything now!

Christy said...

Saint is an understatement! I'm glad that Nannie is okay...that is scary!

You ladies look adorable! :)

TSintheC said...

I bet they have their own language that they use to talk to each other, don't they? ;-)

Love your description of the shopping. Kind of like taking a walk to the park with a two-year-old. Stopping to look at everything.

TSintheC said...

Oh and Shelly's description of conversing with Mother In Law cracked me up!

I imagine that's what it's like for my sister.