My Mum 2012

 It's Mother's Day Sunday.  I always miss my mom in the mornings as she dashes off to church for 7:00 a.m. mass and then to work at 9:30 a.m.  I spend Sunday mornings catching up on sleep lost during the week.  


My bladder has been trained to be emptied every 3-4 hours.  If I oversleep it could be a little messy and sure enough I overslept without emptying my bladder ( I manually empty my bladder through an indwelling foley catheter that's never removed - not fun ).  Even with the medicine I take( which prevents the bladder from having spasms) I woke up in a mini puddle of urine.  sigh....and Sundays when I wake up, I'm alone.  

Getting cleaned up and dressed is more difficult, if not tricky.  Today I managed to get cleaned up and out of bed in 45 minutes.  I hadn't planned anything tonight because mom's pretty tired when she gets home and I don't need a day to celebrate Mother's Day because she's a mom everyday. RIGHT?  Anywhoooo I decided to get her flowers and some chocolates that she fancies.

The process of getting out is ridiculous because so much time is wasted dropping things, picking them up, finding my bag, phone, the garage opener ( my entry point ) and making sure that I look presentable when I get out.

As I'm about to leave, I make sure to use the bathroom (read as emptying my bladder) and thanks to Murphy's Law the plug in the end of the catheter pops out before I'm ready and a bit of urine leaks out.  At this point I refused to spend another 45 minutes getting in and out of bed to change so I grab some towels, spot clean and head out with a wet spot on my right thigh.  I figure the valley heat and wind should dry me off in no time.  Sorry if that's a little gross, but after doing it so many times, I absolutely refused!


After checking out the last-minute Mother's Day flower selections, I managed to grab the last 2 pretty bunches of orchids, a simple tall square glass vase from the Goodwill next door and assembled everything into something presentable.   A little creativity, a Goodwill find, and chocolates make for a nice little "Welcome Home" / "Happy Mother's Day!" gift when you get home.  She'll be home in 1 hour and can't wait to give it to her.  She loves me unconditionally even though I'm a handful, lets me rant and cry during the hard days and celebrates my victories with me.  She is present and she is love.  She's my mom and I hope that if God ever grants me the title of "Mom" that I will be just as amazing.  I love you mom!