Here we go again

My mother in all her grace managed to break not one, but both of her ankles. She was walking down a small little tiny set of stairs and on the last step she fell off, landed funny and down she went.  Her right ankle was broken in 3 places and her left one had a hairline fracture on one of the bones.

The orders read, "No weight bearing on the left foot for 4 weeks or the right foot for 6 weeks."

Well... shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit...

She has been placed back in the nursing home where she was when she was recovering from her colon surgery.  I had visions of her wasting away in bed for 6 weeks but they have her in physical and occupational therapy for two hours a day.  They are building her strength for everything above her knees so she will be able to support herself on a walker and rebuild the strength she loses in her calves.

I'm really proud of her especially because she is completely focused on her recovery.  She said, "I want to walk out of here."  One, she wants to get the hell out of there.  Two, she wants to walk again.

I visit her at least once daily.  I try to bring her popsicles. We may watch the news. We may just sit and talk.  Sometimes Charles is with me and he will sit and visit with her too.  It makes me happy that he is supportive of her recovery too.

The sad bit about all this is that we had to give up the dogs.  We both love the dogs but the potential for them to cause her to fall again is too high. I gave them to Westie Rescue.  They know what they're doing and will find them a good home.

My heart  breaks when I walk in the door and they aren't there to maul me. It's weird because they drove me crazy.  They ate my couch.  They destroyed every carpet they ever encountered. They cost us thousands of dollars in destroyed apartments, vet bills and grooming expenses but they were worth it. In time I will forget the couch. I will forgive the messes and the bills.

The lessons I've learned include:

• Be satisfied with loving other people's dogs.
• Use the accessibility entrance to the apartment building.
• Self-care is by far the most important skill anyone can ever learn. If you don't take care of yourself you can't care for anyone else.
• Be thankful every day for the support network you've spent your life developing.

I am most thankful that this is not a life or death scenario.  While it is still very painful and inconvenient she'll survive and carry on to raise hell another day.  (Yay Mom!)