Lost Track of Time

It seems that we have been living in a blur this past couple of weeks. Days just come and go and we are not even always aware of what day it is. The past three weeks have been a blur of hospital visits, and looking after my dad.

Mum is still very sick, we did receive some good news last week.... she does not have bone marrow cancer like they first thought. This was great news for us as a family as we all hate the C word and were devastated to think that Mum might of had it. However the news still was not good. Mum does have an autoimune disease in her bone marrow which is terminal and untreatable. This past couple of weeks has been critical, and although she has pulled through a very rough time this week, she will progressively get sicker. We can see her getting weaker each day.

We have all met with the specialists this week, and although they still have warned us that she could go any time, they have also told us that we may have her for up to six months, so that has been great news to us all. The real problem now though is that Mum is not well enough to come home and be looked after by Dad, so will need to go into a Nursing Home where she can receive some High care nursing. This has been particularly stressful to my Dad who has been her primary caregiver over the past couple of years, and who absolutely adores her even after over 57 years of marriage.

This week my sisters and I start the job of looking for a nursing home for my mum. It is quite devastating for us too, as we know how much our Dad loves to care for her. We have been warned though that we will not have her for too much longer.

In the last couple of weeks, all the grandchildren and great grandchildren have been home now to see mum and spend some time with her. My neice from Sydney, and nephew from Emerald flew in last week, and Mum has enjoyed seeing them all. Of course I tried to get photos of most of the visists.

During all of this, I did get a little break last Saturday when my kids along with the other grandchildren came up to spend time with Mum. This has been great for us as it gives us all a little break, as they take over the sitting with Mum. Pete also bought his beautiful dog 'Penny" up to visit Mum, ( the hospital thought it was a great idea) and we took her out onto the landing outside Grandma's room, and her eyes really lit up at seeing her.

I took a couple of hours off and went down to the beach with the kids late last Saturday afternoon and then we all went out for dinner at Mooloolaba. The break was so nice and just what we needed. Managed to get some photos.

I got the loveliest surprise too. Chloe apparently had to fly to Brissie for a work course on the Monday and Tuesday so her boss flew her down on Saturday morning so that she could see us on the weekend. Pete picked her up from the airport and bought her straight to the coast. It was the loveliest surprise for me and it lighted my spirits no end.

Saturday night after my kids went home, my younest sister came down, as her daughter was going to a party just down the road from my parents place. It was nice to have some sister time and catch up so us three girls and my niece all went out for coffee together.
We all felt young again, we didn't get home until after Midnight. It is rare that the three of us are in the one place at the same time, so although the reasons we are down on the coast here are not good, it is great for us all to actually spend time together most days.

On of the other things we have all been doing is going back over our childhood photos. This has bought back so many happy memories for us all. Found some great photos of our parents that we loved too. And then these random shots were taken last Sunday morning when I had to go into Maroochydore to fax back to school some forms for work, As we parked at Officeworks, we had a good view of this helicopter picking up airconditioners and placing them in a new building that was being built. We watched them for quite some time. I was just wishing I had my good camera with me. We are not sure what this next week will bring, but we do know that we are in safe hands. We know that we have a God who loves our Mum dearly and loves us too, and we are resting in that.