Well... after we drove to the beach house and stayed a few days, we headed south to Simi Valley to see my mom. To pick up where we left off, we had to drive inland about 60 miles and get on Interstate 5 heading south to avoid the mudslide area in Montecito. It is not the most interesting of journeys, and we much prefer driving the coast south, but we did get to see miles and miles of pump jacks in the
Lost Hills oil fields of Kern County. Weirdly modern and prehistoric looking at the same time, like crazy metal dinosaurs.
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Pump Jacks |
We made it to my sister's on January 16th and visited with my mom right away. She was very sleepy and mostly stayed in her bed. Our plan was to take her for her thoracentesis, the removal of the fluid between her lungs and chest wall, on January 18th. She also had a CT scan and blood draw lab work on the same day. It all went well and a very timely fashion. We decided that day to stay in Simi Valley until my mom's follow-up appointment with the oncologist on January 23rd to get some idea of what the prognosis would be. Now that was the VISIT FROM HELL.
To start with, the staff had booked my mother's appointment (and three other patients) for 1:00 pm. The problem was that the doc doesn't start seeing afternoon patients until 2:00. It was a simple error, but a total bummer. Then, when we did see the oncologist she had not seen the test results, the CT scan report, or lab results. She was utterly unprepared to discuss my mom's latest health issues. Truly disappointing in every way. So, we took her back to the Memory Care Facility and planned our trip back to the beach house.
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My mom on January 20th |
My mom's decline is noticeable in every way. She spent most of her time in bed when we visited, which we did twice a day. She could only put up with us for an hour or so before needing to take a nap. I asked her if she remembered how many children she had, and she did. She said, "I have four." I asked her if she knew their names. She said, "Marc, Michael, Lynn, and the other one." That other one would be me. We had a good laugh about that.
We spent eight days in southern California and headed back to the beach house on Wednesday, January 24th. We were absolutely thrilled that we hadn't gotten the flu while we were there in over-populated flu epidemic land. We were literally living in fear of that the entire time we were there. Then, on Thursday the staff at the Memory Care Facility called my sister to say our mom was not feeling well. By Friday she was in the ER, diagnosed with the flu and the pleural effusion had already returned. As I type this she is in isolation in the oncology ward of the local hospital. We're waiting to hear the prognosis.
One way I lift my spirits, I run out in the morning to photograph sun rising over Monterey Bay. I am utterly grateful for these moments.