Mother; Going Wireless

Mother slipped and fell Saturday evening. She dropped something and in the process of trying to pick it up slipped onto the floor. She said she was sure she had broken her hip. But since she did not appear to be in pain, I figured she had fractured something less serious.

Using the wheelchair, I was able to get her to the car, and she, moving very gingerly, was able to slid onto the front seat. We've been to the hospital enough so that I knew exactly where to go.

The emergency room has been greatly expanded, and the process is easier to understand. There appear to be two areas: one for life-or-death cases; and one for other cases. I noticed there was even a negative pressure room.

They did a number of tests before x-raying her. Within about 20 minutes, the doctor said she had a small crack in the rear pelvic area. Essentially, she fractured the area that hit the floor.

Then suddenly all the lights went out. There was about 60 seconds of flickering, and then the emergency power kicked in leaving only a few ceiling lights lit. The critical care area had full power but not our section.

Mother was beginning to nod off, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to leave. As I wandered outside, I realized that the exterior emergency lighting was minimal. I'd parked on the ground floor of the parking garage, but it was totally dark. As I walked slowly toward where I thought the car was, I expected a mad slasher wearing a hockey mask to jump out at any moment.

When I checked on her this evening, she was alert but grumpy. Which I guess is to be expected.

I think I've learned over the last year that I can only do so much. It is all too easy to become so engulfed by caregiving so that you lose perspective.

Friday, I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a service rep to reconnect. Then on Saturday, I started the router installation process afresh, and it actually worked. Yesterday, I marched on to the set up for the laptop wireless USB adapter. Again, I had problems. The laptop did not appear to recognize the adapter. Then I discovered that it really did but not in the manner described by the instructions. And next I discovered that you have to enter the password to activate the link.

So now I can move around inside and outside and be connected. Amazing!

PAX!