That's why I spend my days alone...

So, you let me tell you about my day.

Yesterday, i dropped my car off at the mechanic's to get the oil changed today. That meant that today, I took my mom's car to work. Which also meant, when i went to get the keys this morning, I talked to her for a bit, and ended up getting to work late.

At work, there had been a backup in the sewage line, so several drains were regurgitating thier contents. It took most of the morning for them to get it fixed and cleaned up, but nonetheless, the odor remained, wafting through out the building.

Today was also the day mom was taking dad to his first chemo treatment. I got a call in the early afternoon from her saying that they couldn't do the chemo because he has pneumonia in his right lung where the cancer is. They were re-hydrating him, and giving him anti-biotics and they were gonna try the chemo again next week. This also explained why he was so sick with a fever and fatigue all last weekend.

After work, I stopped to pay for the car and get my keys. The mechanic told me my two back tires were flat. They each had a nail in them, and were flat, and, didn't I notice anything? Well I noticed the car wasn't handling as well I thought she should be, but NO I didn't notice the two back tires were flat! If i had, I think I would have done something, or at least mentioned it to someone. Luckily, he could removed the nails and patch up the tires, so thankfully, i didn't have to buy new ones.

So I get to mom's house with her car, thinking she'll be there and she can drive me back to get mine. but no, they're not there. So I figured she's still dealing with dad at the hospital, I sat down and waited. I mean it was already 4;30, you'd think they'd be home soon.

About 4;45, she calls me. They're admitting dad to the hospital because they can't get his fever down and his oxygen level is a bit low. She needs to get something for him from home, and go to Wal-Mart to get some things, and did I want to go out to eat with her, she's not had anything since breakfast. So i tell her, sure, I guess, but I want to go get my car before we do anything else. She says okay, she leaving the hospital now.

Ten minutes later, I'm still waiting out front of the house for her. Mind you, it probably only takes 15-20 minutes to WALK to thier house from the hospital. I thought maybe she meant I wanted her to pick me up at the mechanic's, so finally i call her:

Mama: Hello?
Polt: Where are you?
Mama: I'm home.
Polt: (looking up and down the street for signs of the truck or her) Who's home?
Mama: (after a pause) MY home.
Polt: Um, no. No you're not. I'm out front of the house waiting for you.
Mama: I've lived here for over 40 years I know my own house!
Polt: Well WHERE are you in the house?
Mama: I'm in basement, coming up the stairs.
Polt: OOOOOH.

(note, we have a garage out back with access from a side alley that i can't see from the front. She put the truck away in the back and entered the house from the back and came up through the basement)

We got up the bedroom together we have to get personal items for him, as well as a Power Of Attorney paper they filled out about 15 years ago. Why the hospital needs that when he's only going to be there they think 2 days is beyond both of us. Nonetheless mom gets into the safe and starts rooting through all the papers therein, dropping them on the bed. She finds my birth certificate, her will, several savings bonds, but no power of attorney. Meanwhile I go gather up his personal stuff: razor, toothbrush, some underwear, slippers, etc. When i come back she's sealing the safe after leaving a sheet on the bed. "Found it" she says. "Now, we need to go to Wal-mart for somethings. Where's my list?" She had a list, on a piece of paper, that she laid on the bed.....and was now sealed in the safe. So she had to re-open it and go through all the papers again until she found the list.

We got to eat at a buffet first, nothing really to report from there, other than the food was good and we both ate too much of it. then to Wal- Mart. Among the things we need to get him are some pajamas. He already has a pair of pajama bottoms, but thier too light and he gets cold. And she wants to find him a thicker kind, maybe flannel (flannel jammies, in the middle of summer, go figure), and shirt to wear, but not a t-shirt. Just a shirt without a collar and no buttons...which makes me ask "But a shirt with no collar and no buttons is, um, a t-shirt." that frustrated her, so I just let her look for what she wanted and I checked out the hot guys modeling the underwear on the front of the various packs.

I get back to the cart and see that she has a set so pajamas, top and bottom, that say, 2 XG/ 2 XL. And I'm thinking, my dad does NOT need 2X jammies. I myself could almost wear a 2X, and he's way smaller than me. I try to point this out to her, but she says, "No, that's what I'm getting him. He'll need them." Only later, at the hospital, when she opened them up, did she notice how big they were. And that there was only one pair. She thought it mean "2 pairs of XL tops and bottoms" NOT one pair of "2XL tops and bottoms" . *SIGH* Guess I can't be too hard on her. She never had her husband in the hospital before, and honestly, she's a little flighty to begin with. She's a saint, but she's a true blonde as well.

So we got the stuff to the hospital. We got it all situated and then he wanted to TV on, so she turned it on. She went to sit down in a chair, but the curtain that seperated his bed from the "thanksfully" empty one was laying across it. So when she sat down, she damn near ripped the curtain down. then she jumped up because of th noise, and almost knocked over the pole that was holding dad's IV. Almost, thank God.

After all this, we only had about 20 minutes until visiting hours ended. Then she drove us back to her place and I walked home and got here and typed all this for you.

And now, after that day, I am beat. Beat like a dog that shit on the expensive Persian rug. So I am taking a shower and going the hell to bed.

POLT Oil: 72.59 (+.21); Gas: 2.92 (+.04)

God bless America, that's an ugly tie! - Kyan, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy