And This Little Heart Valve Goes To You.
I am home this week. Not at home as in my home but really home. Back in the proverbial nest.
Yes, you can go home and it is just almost exactly the same as when you left. Except, everyone is so much older and therein lies the rub. I am here because my Dad needed a new heart valve. The operation was a success and he made it through just fine. He is now the proud owner of a pig valve. Unfortunately, I think it was a mean pig cause each day he gets better he is getting more ornery. We liked him better when he was sicker. (My kids were always so sweet when they had a low grade fever!)
I have been here to ferry my Mom around to the hospital and help around the house. And I have done a really good job. My skills as a nurse, not so good. We were at the hospital for about an hour today when he said he was tired and we should leave. He did ask that we bring him back a chocolate milkshake. We went to get out nails done and when we came back he was in a snit. Yes, we had the milkshake, but we were later than he planned. He said “I had low blood sugar, where were you? I almost needed insulin waiting for this shake”. This was quickly followed by ” you too are the worst nurses”. Quickly followed in rapid fire with ”Every minute you were late seemed like an hour”. Now we haven’t gotten a word in yet so I try to calm him down and say “here is your shake, you are just fine”. He was halfway through his dinner at this point and we had only been gone an hour and a half – how low could his blood sugar have dropped? He is surrounded by monitors and nurses – he was fine. And then it started. ” If you were going to be that late I don’t know why you came back at all”. Ah the old guilt move. My mother, in an attempt to change the subject asked who brought the flowers on his table. He replied “I am not going to tell you”! Then she asked if she should read the paper to him. He replied “Not that paper – I want a new paper”. And so she went and got a new paper. Then she asked how the dinner was. He replied “this is the first good meal I have had here. They must have gotten a new chef because the food was rotten the last few days, I couldn’t even eat until today, are they trying to starve me to death?” “Well, that is wonderful you got a good meal and I am sure you will feel better now that you have eaten” she said. “No thanks to you two” was his reply. “I have to do this all by myself, no one is here to help me, maybe I just never should have had this operation, you two don’t care about me at all”.
This whole conversation sounded just like the ones I had with my kids when they were little. Or even like the ones I had with my parents when I was little. So although you can go home again, prepared. You may just find the conversations are eerily familiar, but now you are on the other side!
And I guess you don’t want to see our pretty nail polish do you Dad?
Faux Faux Girl
Annie