Mom

You think your parents are going to live forever until one of your parents becomes sick or injured and you come to the sudden realization that he/she will not live forever and we are all mortal whereas death certainly follows life.

I am going to celebrate my 56th birthday in two months and I am blessed to have my parents (all three of them). My mother has had a rough go of it lately. Chronic debilitating back and leg pain resulted in a complicated spinal surgery. The surgery itself had its own set of complications and soon after her release from the hospital my mother was readmitted though this time in intensive care and another a second spinal surgery. Today, my mother is unable to walk so there has been a lot of discussion around the "next step". Does she transfer to an acute rehab, skilled nursing home or home with hospital bed and round the clock nursing care.

I can tell you what she does not want. It will be over her dead body that she ever go to a skilled nursing home and share a room with another person. This vibrate independent woman knows her own mind and  after several discussions she agreed to go to a skilled nursing home under these two conditions; private room and she picks the nursing home. As of last night, there was not an available private room in her choices so we are back to square one.

In all honesty, I do not blame her. I cannot see my mother in a skilled nursing home. I hope she can go to an acute short term rehab followed by nursing care in her own home. The goal is for her to get back on her feet "literally".