Doctor's talk

A relative of mine is a young doctor. He's specialized - at least somewhat - in those fields which deal with the respiratory tract. His mother - who's BTW a doctor, too - visited us yesterday evening, saw my mom lying in intensive care, talked to the doctors and wrote down some phone numbers, which she passed on to her son. So he called my mother's treating physician to understand her medical situation.
He called me in the evening, and told me he is happy with the hospitals competence and abilities. He also told me that my mother might go through a lot of ups and downs, and that nobody can really predict what happens next.
At least we know we can leave her in this hospital, sparing her the burden - and the risk - to move her.

Tomorrow we will arrange for a discussion with the assistant medical director in charge, asking for more details and especially for better communication.

Does it help her? Probably not, but it will give us the feeling of doing something, so it helps us.
And that will hopefully help her - when she's awake again and we will be there to be with her.

Another rainy day - not in New York City

It's raining. The whole day. Not a nice and warm summer rain. This is the sort of rain you have in fall, just before winter. The sky is gray, nearly nobody on the streets. It's surely not the sort of day to enjoy a summer party in the greens, and also not really fitting for a round of golf...
So, after facing the inevitable, I decided to use the time to tidy up my papers and go through all the letters I received in the last weeks, but really had not the time or the ease of mind to read.
As expected, nothing really worth the time - just the usual notes and bills, which are taken care of anyway or you can't change a lot about.
But it helped to clear up my mind - and to gain some space on my desk :-)

A little bit of fun

This evening we had dinner with two of our best friends, a couple which will celebrate their first anniversary tomorrow. We had a nice evening at our place, talking about a lot of things.
The girl is a nurse, so we also got some insight re my mother's treatment (as we of course also talked about her).
But we also had some fun this evening, and cheering up is important - it gives you the strength you need in these days.

Tomorrow, we will join our local Golf club's summer event, play some holes and get some sun&fun - a little bit at least.

I'll tell you how it went - and what else will be happened at the end of the day...

Getting better - hopefully

I visited my mother at the hospital this afternoon.
She was awake, but of course not fully conscious. Still, she tried to communicate and express her feelings, which is a good sign. She will not be able to talk until they change the way of ventilation, but that's OK. Of course, sometimes it's just frustrating for her as well as for us - just not being able to understand and in the same time wanting desperately to - I think nobody would take this just as it is...
Now we have to wait again, praying that nothing goes wrong and she recovers in due course. She is a strong woman, and God may help her.

Why I started this blog...

I was quite a long time thinking about starting a log - and I didn't mind actually if off- or on-line.
Anyway, as often, all the big and little things which drive our life never allowed to take out the time needed to really make it happen.
Three weeks ago, I was in Tripoli, Lebanon, enjoying my first day of "vacation" after a year or so, sitting together with all my family down there, and planning for two weeks of sun and fun.
The Wednesday after I have been informed that my mother has been delivered to hospital the Monday before, and since then she's in intensive care. My wife, the kids and I took the first plane back. Now we are with my mother every morning and afternoon, whenever possible. In the last three weeks, she nearly passed 3 times - the first night in hospital, last weekend and yesterday.
I don't know how much more I can bear, but I have to - just staying strong enough to support my family.
Well, I can't keep this all to me any more. So I started this Blog, to share my fears and all what happens, but also with hope - hope that my mother gets better some day, and I will use this Blog to talk about better days, and somewhat live the sun+fun planned for in Tripoli.