BIG SCARE!
My stomach aches. I was (fortunately) in an online Zoom meeting in my office at the U when my wife called me and was understandably beyond.... HYSTERICAL.
My sister-in-law had called my wife..... from my mother-in-law's house.... and told my wife that "MOM was MISSING!!!!" I asked my wife to repeat to me what my sister-in-law had said, to be sure I heard my wife correctly.
My sister-in-law, "K", who is is quite poor health due to her own complications from Type 2 diabetes, was trying her best to run all over my mother-in-law's house seeing if she could locate her somewhere. My wife used our home phone line (K had called her cell phone) to call her brother, "D". When "D" heard the news, he jumped in his truck and was trying to speed across town to Mom's house, about an hour away from where he lived. He was planning to search the fields and snow banks nearby the house.
After telling me the news, my wife had gotten into her car, and was similarly driving to Mom's home (about 45 minutes for us), and I was trying to quickly pack up and scoot out the door myself to get over there myself from my position at the U as quickly as I could.
* * * * *
My mother-in-law, "Mom" is quite advanced in age. She is displaying some aspects of forgetfulness that have been diagnosed as a slight onset of dementia. But, she is adamant that she wants to stay in her own home at this time. And, she has been doing well. We have a few items that have been able to assist her quite a bit, including a medicine (pill) dispenser that is also an "alarm clock" where it will open up a particular chamber of her pills at a specific time (twice) each day and sound an alarm. Mom has been very good about following the alarm so she gets her medication in the appropriate times and dosages each day with this device. She has lost all desire to leave her home, no matter if we try to coax her to return to Mass (we try to pick her up), or to go shopping or any travel that is not a mandatory doctor's type visit. But, generally she is doing pretty well. We even have two small cameras that my wife can peek at on her phone to make sure that Mom is doing well and hasn't fallen or gotten hurt. Between the three families of the siblings, we typically have one or more of the three families have someone visit Mom at least 5 out of 7 days a week if not all seven.
* * * * *
I was imagining the worst, as were my wife and her two siblings. But.... about 40 minutes after the initial phone call from K, she was able to call back... crying..... both in terms of being quite upset, but also in terms of being quite happy... to tell my wife that Mom was "ok".
What happened, was that two of MOM's younger sisters had decided to drive down to visit Mom. These two younger sisters live about 4.5 hours north of where Mom lives, and so this is not a common occurrence. Neither of them thought about letting any of the three kids (my wife, K, and D) know that the were going to come and see Mom, AND..... take her out to lunch. They had arrived back from lunch with Mom while K was still frantically searching and D, my wife, and I were driving like Tasmanian Devils over to the house.
None of us can believe that the younger aunts never gave a thought to letting any of us know what their plans were. They DO know that Mom has been declining some over the last two years. Both of them really should have realized they should tell at least one of the three kids.
* * * * *
Before the big scare, I was planning to call my wife and let her know that I was utterly famished and that I had scraped every morsel I could from my lunch items..... and was looking very hungrily at taking a bite out of my keyboard.
The big scare was a very effective hunger suppressant. In fact, my stomach still hurts even though I am back at the U doing my work.
Nothing much changed from the big scare about my desires to smoke my pipes, however. I have been wanting to smoke a pipe all morning long. And, I wanted to do so while I was speeding away from the U, and now that I am back in my office.... I would still relish a bowlful of dark, strong burley leaf.
PipeTobacco
6 Comments:
Could your mother-in-law be taught to carry in a pocket or purse one of those little GPS locator tags? If relatives can't be taught to leave notes on notepads when they take her on outings outside the home, a GPS locator would at least offer some reassurance... or ability to get to her quickly. Whether you do that with a LifeAlert-type device that she wears, or just a simple tag like Tile or Apple make available (which would go in a pocket or purse, whatever she can be counted on to have with her when she travels), that might reduce the likelihood of similar crises/mix-ups in the future.
Good ideas…. and we have a “Life Alert” sort of gizmo…. but she will not wear it, saying it is uncomfortable. Added to the drama was she DID not take her purse with her, and did not lock the doors to her house when she left (and left the keys where she normally leaves them in the house).
PipeTobacco
Wow! Its to understand the concern and panic. Good that it ended well. I wonder if one of the new GPS tracking devices could be helpful.
As an aside, my dad who traveled a lot, never left home without a supply of nuts, especially almonds. He had a blood sugar balance to watch. I picked up that habit and in years of flights, strange climes, odd hours and missed meals, the almonds were a true live saver and hunger shaker.
That would have been terrifying! My adrenaline jumped up even reading it. I'm glad she was OK, but what were those younger aunts thinking? That was extremely inconsiderate of them.
People don’t think things through, but it was good of them to take Mom out in the first place.
Oh panic stations! I can imagine what was going through your wife's head. WE currently have a police report on our local facebook page asking people to keep an eye out for n elderly lady who has gone missing. So scary.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home