A Little Bit of Me Time

Since aunt was having dialysis this morning, and it takes about 2 hours (not to mention it really exhausts her), dad and I passed on driving to the hospital this morning. Instead, I got to be a mall rat, wandering the local indoor mall (Gulf View Square on US 19, if anyone's keeping track of Waldo), and enjoying not having a television or radio on constantly.

The mall had a couple of things going for it: Air conditioning. Interesting things to look at. Useless items to laugh at. Lots of sales. Peace. Quiet. No one asking me to be an adult.

Don't get me wrong - I love my dad and we get along just fine. I get my twisted sense of humor all from him, so we laugh at the same things. But I just needed to get away for a bit (and he probably appreciated a little Ray-time himself).

Even though aunt I is making huge progress, it's still slow going, so it will be a while before she's back in her own home again. Sometime this week, I'll head over there and clean out the kitchen, put an end to any science experiments that might be living in her fridge or on the counter, make sure the water still runs and the toilet still flushes.

DH and I were talking about about my return home. I'm still spit-balling end of the month, but going home is really event-driven, not date-driven, so it could be June 28/29 or it could be July 6/7. Or not. I realize just having her in the hospital is a burden on my dad, but at least at this point, he doesn't have to try to interpret her living will. That was weighing heavily on his mind last week when we didn't know really if she was going to pull through. We had no idea if anything we were consenting to was doing any good.

Now that she's doing as well as she is, and we can take a holistic look, everything she's got going on is fixable. Her lungs will heal. Both doctors believe that her kidneys will get back to full functioning again. Her back is fixable. Her MMM is not curable, but it is treatable. Things looked vastly different last week.

Time to vacate this table at Starbucks, my interwebz access point while I'm here (at least it's closer than Panera's). More in short bursts from my phone, or longer posts when I'm back here. Thank you again to all of you who have been sending good wishes to both aunt and me. They are all very much appreciated. Mwuah! to everyone.