Dismal winter...Thursday, February 10, 2005
I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted here. So much has happened...
Mom ended up having two surgeries on her hip and pelvis... they put in a steel prosthetic pelvis piece to try and stabilize the hip joint, but the doctor didn't properly reinforce Mom's fragile pelvic bone. The screws they used to fix it in place didn't hold and Mom's pelvis started cracking under the prosthetic and the screws started working their way out. So they had to go BACK in there and use bone cement to try and build up her pelvis and re-attach the prosthetic. Her bones are so very brittle and fragile, and the doctor KNEW that. I guess he was under the impression that my mother would be content sitting for the rest of her life and not doing anything, like walk or take a shower... We're still wondering why he didn't do it right the first time. Or, for that matter, CALL HER BACK when she left a message in October of 2003 to tell him she was in terrible pain and she wanted him to take a look at it.
She spent 9-1/2 weeks in a dismal nursing facility. The food was awful, and they messed up her medication and it casued her to have seizures. They lost her clothing. She lost a lot of weight and went through some terrible depression; especially since her eyesight has deteriorated so badly since the blood vessel in her eye broke.
She had a laser treatment prior to the surgeries which was designed to seal the faulty blood vessel. Apparently, it did do that, and for a while it seemed as though the blood cloud in her eye was partially vaporized and it started to dissipate somewhat. But since then, her sight has migrated to a tiny sliver on the inside corner of her right eye and the rest of her sight is just a dark blob. Her left eye has been totally blind for several years. She can get around her house well enough, but she cannot read, watch TV, sign a check... she will probably never drive again, but she hasn't accepted that yet. She is still hoping that her sight will improve further, but that might not happen. It breaks my heart to hear her cling to hope when she very well may be disappointed.
I ended up going back & forth from LA to Colorado five times to help her while she was recuperating from her first surgery at home, and then help keep her spirits up and take care of her house and stuff while she was in the nursing home. My brother goes back & forth from his house two or three times a month. It's a 4-hour drive for him, but he's glad he can be there. I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am that he's there.
I haven't had time to really do or think about anything else for a while. I go to work and go home. The voiceover project was finally finished in September, and it seems to be a success... buzz is picking up about it, at least.
I've been doing some small theatre projects around town, and I managed to get a couple of commercial voiceovers while all of this was going on. One happened while I was with Mom and I had to find a recording facility in Colorado on very short notice. It ended up being a nice little job and I was paid before I even got back to LA.
Now I'm kind of in limbo, waiting to see if Mom will need anything. I call her every day just to see how she is. She sounds pretty good, although I'm worried because she's not getting out. Any number of her friends would be so happy to pick her up and take her to lunch or just visit, but she's so very self-conscious about her sight and her limitations I just wish she would realize that they don't care about any of that. They just want to see her. She's going to fade away if she doesn't resume at least a little of her social activities. She was a very vibrant and active person right up until her hip gave out, and to suddenly go into hiding like this is really making her depressed. Her mind doesnt seem as sharp as it used to be. It makes me worry.
Say a prayer for her, will you? If you believe in such things? If not, just send positive energy, okay?
