Doing What You Have to Do!

Dear Mom,

There were some interesting times this week. Tuesday night I decided to thoroughly cleaned the whole bathroom, because it just wasn't smelling as clean as I would like. I put the towels and washcloths in the hamper, cleaned the tub well, your bath chair, the walls, the towel rack, the toilet, the sink, and the mirror, then emptied the garbage can with your wet Depends. I was on a mission, had to get that stale smell out. I felt much better once I did! After working up a sweat, but getting all of that done, I was ready to go downstairs to relax. I was actually really looking forward to making some silk flower arrangements and wreaths for the Berlin Fair. My friend encouraged me to do some, I have done wreaths before and some of my art work, but since I'm not taking art anymore, those are things that I like to do. Plus, you get money if you get ribbons. As I was on my way downstairs, I hear you call me as you often do now. It gets to me a little because usually it's just to show me the scars on your arms and legs which I have seen plenty, or to show me how swollen your feet are, which I have already seen as well. This time it was much different than I expected. You told me that you had an accident, and made a mess. This was a poop accident. There was poop on your gown, your housecoat, your underwear (because you still wear underwear even though you wear Depends), your slippers, the toilet seat and all over your bottom. I wasn't sure I knew how to handle that, but somehow I did. I took your housecoat and robe off, got the socks, and then the underwear that you had put in the sink to try to rinse them out. I put all of those things in the hamper. I brought them downstairs and put them in the washer. I went back to check on you, you were still sitting on the toilet. I asked you if you wanted to take another bath and you said yes. I ran the bath water, as you got up you noticed the seat was a mess, so I gave you two washcloths, one for the toilet seat, the other for your bath. You used the one to clean off the toilet seat somewhat, then got into the tub on your seat. I told you to make sure to clean your bottom because there was still some on your bottom. I brought the other washcloth down to put in the laundry. After you said you were done with your bath, I came in and checked on you and brought you new pj's to put on. I noticed that you still had poop on your bottom, so I got the washcloth and finished cleaning you. Never thought I would have been able to do that, you know how I am. I know some people do it all the time and that was hardly anything compared to what they go through. But you know what you always told me, "You're too nice nasty!" Meaning I didn't do well with cleaning things that I thought were gross. You also always used to, and still do tell me, you hope you don't get sick, because I wouldn't take care of you. Well, look what I did! :) I felt proud of myself realizing that when it comes down to it, I think I would do what I needed to do to take care of you. I was proud that I never made you feel bad, you didn't even mention anything about a nursing home and being too much work for me. We just got through it and made it! But there I was cleaning the whole bathroom all over again, this time the rugs and the floor too, since some of the poop got on those, too. So, the bathroom got an extra cleaning on Tuesday!
Then Wednesday, I'm sure you didn't have any memory of the mess the night before, and of course I wasn't going to bring it up. I got your breakfast ready and got your medicine for you, and was getting ready for school. I had finally been able to get your new meds, Naproxen and your water pill, so those were there for you to take. I walked out the door for school, and said goodbye to you and Bella. I got to school and had a wonderful opportunity to share some of the tough things I was dealing with with a great friend. It was a tough morning. I talked to her for a while and she was wonderful with me, such an encouragement. I talked to her until my third graders came into my room for their few classes with me. As we were getting ready to do Arithmetic I think, my phone started vibrating and I noticed it was you. I was a little shocked and almost didn't answer it right away because sometimes you just call to tell me that someone called and it's usually just about a bill or something. I did answer and got a little freaked because you didn't sound good. You told me you weren't feeling well, your head felt weird and you felt like you were going to pass out. I told the kids to get their things together to go back to their class because I needed to go home and check on my mom. I gave them their work that they needed to do, went to the secretary to tell her I was leaving and to try to let her know what different places I was supposed to be in the rest of the day so she could let the other teachers, etc. know. She told me to just come on home and she would figure out who to tell. I came home, I was quite nervous. You were in bed, and seemed pretty tired. You said you were feeling a little better. I went to get you some water to drink, came back and you were pretty knocked out. I kept trying to get you to drink. I called your doctor to see if it could be the new meds, but the office was closed. My wonderful friend from that morning was texting with me and suggested that I call the pharmacist. I did and felt so much better as she told me, the water pill can give you vertigo-like symptoms. That made sense to me. So, I just stayed home with you the rest of the day, texting the many people who were checking on how we were doing. Once again, I had to do what I had to do, even leaving school early to get home to you. It's always worth taking care of you! You are definitely much better now. Now if I could only get you moving more, but that's a goal for another time. I love you!