Search This Blog

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

wicked stepmother



just spent the last two days in ICU with my stepmum and my dad. she's been a smoker for 56 years, and her lungs are shot. a lung cancer survivor, she's been packing an oxygen tank with her everywhere she goes for 5 years now. on sunday she stopped breathing and was rushed to hospital. they gave her 48 hours to live. that was about, (quick mental calculation) 72 hours ago. now they're making preparations to move her out of ICU into another ward, to recover more before sending her home. this is the second time she's fooled everyone. today she's angry, bitchy and poisonous. that's how we know she's getting better. i feel like i've spent 2 days marinating in venom.

an interesting fact. there are 5 siblings in the family. none of us smoke. makes me think of a quote a high school english teacher i had years ago had pinned above the blackboard. "there is something to be learned from everyone, even if it is only not to be like them."

amen

8 comments:

L'Adelaide said...

you sound so much like me......my mother recently had emergency colon surgery, lost her colon because she refused to take care of her condition, and now she is like being around a hateful toxic witch, even when I talk to her on the phone(lasts about 2 min!)...I'm afraid she thinks I am a most hateful unappreciative daughter but I suppose that is not my problem! sometimes it seems people refuse to learn anything no matter how old they manage to live to be!

blessings to you...

gfid said...

linda - well, we can't pick our families.... so we need to make sure our friends make up for that. thanks for commiserating :0)

lindsaylobe said...

A breathtaking beautiful picture of the mountain previously. Glad to see you enjoyed yourself.

This post reminded me that this rich fabric we call life is also at times neither pretty nor pleasant, but still the last quote sums it up nicely doesn’t it.

Best wishes

Gary said...

Good point! Much the same in my family.

Woody Allen had this to say (possibly totally out of context): "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."

gfid said...

lindsay and gary - c'est la vie, eh? stepmum is now home and appears to be on the mend. and it's spring, finally.... puddles and piles of gritty diehard snow everywhere.

susan said...

It's said every death is a suicide.

Natashia McEwan said...

I am grateful for reading this this morning. I quit smoking after 35 years of it. Three months Clean!
Bless You

gfid said...

su - something i wanted to say to stepmum as she ranted in ICU about dying, before she realized she wasn't reaching for the doorknob just yet, was 'we're all dying, luv. it's part of living.' but she dislikes me enough as it is, so i did my best not to deliberately antagonize her. a very good looking doctor happened to say almost those very words to her, seconds after i thought it, though.... from him, she thought it was profound.

pinkrelish - (i love the word relish... it says so much in just 6 letters) thanks for stopping by. and huge cudos for being a quitter. i know (secondhand) that it's extremely hard after a long time.... and i think it's the best possible gift you can ever give to those who love you.