Another scorcher… some thoughts on how things have changed…
I woke up with a headache this morning. I tried ignoring it until around 6 but it didn’t work, it just kept getting worse and worse. Finally, I took Advil — no joy. Then IMITREX, still getting worse.
Checked the barometer and it’s fine. Then the light dawns. The temperature sky-rocketed today. Probably in celebration of the anniversary of Apollo 11. As was recently reported, temperature effects migraines — so now I know why. I just wish I could get it under control. I’ll take more Advil when I finish this, hoping if I take the edge off I can get to sleep and sleep it off. I’m great with optimism.
Didn’t post yesterday because I was just too stressed. I got a call in the early afternoon from my aunt that my mother had just been taken to the hospital. Evidently, she’d passed out. Neighbors realized they hadn’t seen her all day or the day before and went to check on her and found her. Thanks heavens she has neighbors who watch out for each other.
So, I ended up calling the hospital to speak with the ER doctor, no broken bones from her fall, not a stroke or a heart attack. Not all the blood work was back but she did have pneumonia. How you manage to get pneumonia in summer (even in Maine) is a mystery to me. But the upshot is she’ll be in the hospital a few days.
While it is such a relief to know she’ll be okay, it brings up again the problem of living so far away from elderly parents. When I was growing up, my grandparents lived down stairs from us. Most of the family lived in town or the next town over (in walking distance mostly). Now my mother lives in the house I grew up in. I live in Maryland. Most of my cousins still live in Maine but scattered throughout the state. Families don’t necessarily live within driving distance.
I was chastised for not driving up to Maine to visit at least every three months. Driving up takes about 16 hours. Flying up is shorter but then you need to rent a car for the 3 hour plus drive from the airport. We only have one car so either my husband has to come with me (taking vacation time) or we have to rent a second car for me to go alone.
That sounds a bit like justification but it’s just facts. This is a problem that many people my age are now facing as their parents or surviving parent has health problems and you don’t live geographically close enough to check in and help out. Many friends have had to deal with this already and it is never easy. Parent doesn’t want to move from what family is there in the familiar place. Adult child has home/work/friends/attachments to the area in which they live — and work in this economic climate is the clincher. There really aren’t any easy answers to what to do. We’re talking over several options and will talk to my mother about them.
Meanwhile, I worry and I know that the worry is just adding more power to this hideous migraine. Time for the next batch of Advil and another try for sleep.