Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

So

My mom is going into hospice, probably at the nursing home she's been in on and off between hospital visits. :( The doctor said that short of a liver transplant, which isn't going to happen due to her other health issues, she might have six months, tops, to live. I'm going to go visit this weekend. I've known this was coming, but it doesn't make it easier, and it must be far worse for her. But part of the whole point of hospice care is to prepare the patient and family for what's to come. So that's good. I know my stepfather (who is a very good husband) has done everything he could to try to avoid this. But it's a natural part of life. I've mostly accepted it, but at the same time, I have a lot of mixed emotions. We'll see how things go. I just hope they can keep her comfortable and allow her to make the most of life that remains.

Sigh. I guess because of the news last night about the prognosis, I had a hard time falling asleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, I finally broke out the sleeping pills my doctor prescribed, the trazodone. I took 1/2 a pill, since I didn't know how I'd react. I slept really well from 11 pm till about 4:30 am, and then I was just awake, not groggy, just awake. (I have the same reaction to the muscle relaxant tizanidine). No grogginess or anything, just suddenly up and going. I got up, took a relaxing bath with lavender oil, a candle, and some lavender incense, and then put my headphones on, turned on OneRepublic's Native album, and tackled the kitchen, doing not only the dishwasher dishes, but the plastic ones that had been languishing. I cleaned the whole kitchen, except for mopping, and took quite a bit of trash out. It looks great.

After that I went on into work and continued my productivity. I boxed up five boxes of books that are going to the new facility, separated three departements' worth of books and labelled them, helped someone order a book through our vendor, and talked our buyer through the website (and helped him with a personal request that was book-related). I forget that many people consider the ISBN a totally foreign concept. But it was nice to do a lot of library-related stuff today. I've already gotten some books to departments, and I'll try to get the rest out soon.

In the afternoon I did my charge entry and OR reconciliation. Then I left work a little late and went home for a bit before my appointment with my counselor. We had a good session. I showed him the before and after photos of the kitchen, and I had filled out a worksheet on trying not to acquire new things. I see him again in three weeks, and in the meantime I'm going to work on the books on the entertainment centre and the bookshelf behind the front door so that I can hopefully open up the entryway a bit.

Now I'm home, trying something I haven't done--cranberry bread. It uses the raisin bake setting, and you're supposed to add the fruit at the beep. But unlike the quick setting, where you get bread in 1 hour 55 minutes, this takes four hours. So the beep hasn't happened yet. I am listening to music softly, Passenger's All the Little Lights. I need to do some reading to round out my to-do list for the day.

In fact, I think I'll read the orchid book I have to see if I can learn something about them. I have one blooming and another has a stem that's halfway up. I do love them, and I'm so glad they're doing well. I finally watered the plants at the house. I also found the tulips budding the other day and put water in the vase for them to grow. :)

Okay, good night for now.

No comments: