Monday, October 16, 2017

Caregiving-An Unexpected Start (10/16/2017)

Today started out like a typical Monday morning. I got up, got dressed, checked on the parents, drove to work. I commute 25 miles to work each day, which takes 45-60 min with traffic. I was 1 mile from reaching my destination when my phone rang. It was my Dad-Larry. He asked how far along I was in the journey. Because of his hearing impairment, he rarely calls me, so I knew this was not just for the sake of a friendly chat. He then told me that when he was trying to get Mama cleaned up this morning, she slipped out of bed. She isn't strong enough to raise herself up from an kneeling position, and he didn't think he could do it without hurting her or himself. I told him I would turn around. When I arrived back at home, Papa-Larry and I worked to get Mama repositioned and back up to a sitting position. My dad was flustered and my mom was worn out. I decided to stay home and take care of my family today.


We were suspicious the previous Monday that my Mama had a bladder infection, but when we took her in for the test, the results came back negative. No infection. It was clear now that she had an infection, and we needed to do what we could to convince the medical clinic of that. I worked with the nurse at the urologist's office to get another test done. She agreed that she must have an infection, so she was started on an antibiotic until the results came back. We drove to the clinic and got the lab test performed. It did come back later as an infection, and a new medication was started. 

If my memory serves me correctly, this is infection number 18 in the past two years. Each one is different, and each one teaches us about the conditions of our own hearts, the power of love to motivate us beyond what we previously thought ourselves to be capable of, and the faithfulness of God. 

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