Tuesday morning, last week…..

The call came in the early hours and I guess that God was wanting to protect me from the desperation of those first few hours.  My cell phone didn’t ring and the nurse at the desk could only leave a message.   I returned the call about 7:00 AM and was told that they THOUGHT that she MAY have had a stroke and that she was having trouble using her left side.  Being a doctor and hearing this, I assumed that she had either had a very small stroke or a TIA and that there was no serious problem.  I asked if the nurse thought that she would still be coming home, today and was told that it depended on how the day went.  Because the kids and Craig had been gone so long and I wanted to spend some quality time with them, and because I saw no emergency pending, I made waffles and strawberries for breakfast and we ate them on the porch, listening to the birds.  I had a small pang of guilt for having left Mom overnight after her surgery.  We normally wouldn’t have handled a surgery this way, even one that seemed to be so void of problems.
After breakfast the entire family packed up for a trip to see Grandma.  I expected to see patients, in MY office, all afternoon, but cancelled my morning to see her and check on things.  I was NOT prepared for what I walked in on…….what I brought the girls to see……..the silent and still shell that was my mother……