Mom has been in the hospital now for two weeks. Since having to go to ICU for observation, she has since been moved back into the rehab section of the hospital.
The therapists say she is making good progress and I can tell an improvement. But we still have a long, long way to go.
John flew up on Friday to spend a week with me. I am so glad he is here – it makes a huge difference to have him here.
Thanks so much for all the calls, visits, and emails – we appreciate it!
So on Thursday, January 15, I got the phone call that I have been dreading – Mom had a stroke at the beauty shop and was in the emergency room. I flew home to Hot Springs the next morning.
The last week and a half have been sort of a fog. The first week, I slept in her room at night. David would come in the morning to relieve me while I ran home to shower. After a week of that, I started going home at night to sleep so I am feeling a lot more alert and rested.
Mom’s able to communicate somewhat – mostly yes and no answers, although some things pop out of her mouth with surprising clarity. She can sort of feed herself, with assistance. She was doing well in rehab until she developed some bleeding on her brain, so they moved her to ICU for a day or two to monitor her. Now they are saying they will move her back to a regular room today. While she can sort of wiggle her right finger and her foot/toes, most of her right side is still paralyzed.
She was at the beauty shop when this happened; apparently, it’s not that uncommon for strokes to occur when the person lies back in the chair to have her hair washed – it cuts off the circulation and the heart has to pump harder. It’s called “Salon Stroke Syndrome” – who knew?
Monterrey(borrowed from Flickr)
The Consulate is new – it just opened last October and it’s beautiful. I’m working the visa section to fill in for a manager who left post early; it’s not super-busy since January is usually a slower month. The folks are quite nice.
I’m staying in an apartment that’s pretty bare bones, but it’s very close to restaurants, Starbucks, a mall, and – my favorite – an H.E.B. grocery store. It’s huge and has everything; I feel like I’m in San Antonio. The whole city is much more cosmopolitan than I expected; much more like the U.S. than anywhere else I’ve been in Mexico. It’s nice for a change of pace.
Last nice I went with some co-workers to a very nice steak place. A co-worker from New Orleans had several of us over for shrimp and grits this morning for brunch – delish!
Painted Redstart
We stayed in for NY’s Day and just enjoyed ourselves. John organized the bookshelves – no small feat if you know how much John loves his books! The house is really coming together and looking nice. We are so glad we bought several rugs in Pakistan.
Friday evening, we had a very nice happy hour at our house. We have been wanting to meet our downstairs neighbors, a young couple with a toddler – both of them are Canadian diplomats. Last weekend at the gym, I met her father – turns out he was a Canadian ambassador to several countries, most recently Israel (he is good friends with the U.S. Ambassador, John’s former boss – small world). So we had all of them up, including the Ambassador’s wife – and our Consul General and her husband and college-age daughter. It was very nice; everyone had lots in common and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.
We have really been enjoying the hummingbirds. The other evening, I was talking to Mom and there were four all sitting at the same feeder! They are so territorial that I just couldn’t believe it! I have to fill up the feeders about every other day! And Saturday, John and I were delighted to see a Painted Redstart on the balcony (pictured above) – what a beauty!
Sunday afternoon, I flew to Monterrey to work in our Consulate here. I’m staying in an apartment – it’s pretty bare bones and sort of feel like I’m camping. Hopefully later this week I’ll get internet and a TV!
John and I are enjoying our four-day weekend – thanks to President Obama for giving us the 26th off! We spent a nice Christmas Day at home. I enjoyed a delicious latte while opening presents. John surprised me with a digital frame; we’ve really been enjoying seeing old photographs pop up. We carried on our Christmas tradition of drinking mimosas and watching “Love Actually,” our favorite holiday movie. We also talked to Mom and Pete and Ginger – and I was happy to get a call from Ann and Pamela! We also had a good chat with our friend Rick in London (thank you, Skype!) and John talked to Phillip. A good day all around.
We continue to chip away at getting the house in order and it’s starting to feel more like home. We’re really happy with the rugs we bought in Pakistan – they’re pretty and look nice on the marble floors in our apartment. John put up two hummingbird feeders and we have delighted in watching the hummers on the balcony. We’ve identified at least two kinds: broad-billed and violet-crowned. John says the violet-crowned look like little penguins sitting on the railing, waiting for their turn at the feeder. We plan to put up a seed feeder as well to see if we can attract some of the colorful birds we see in the trees up to the balcony.
I was the duty officer this past week, meaning that I take after-hours emergency calls. Some turn out not to be emergencies – which makes me very happy (Americans can ask some crazy questions and think you should know the answer!). Other calls are tragic. This week alone, I had two calls to let me know Amcits had died in horrible accidents while they were in Mexico – what was supposed to be a happy time for their families turned into a nightmare for them, one that they will undoubtedly remember every holiday season from now on.
It turns out that America isn’t the only country that gets crazy calls at their Embassies. The Australian High Commission recently gave notice to their citizens that they needed to be more self-reliant while traveling. Click here for an entertaining article about it; suffice it to say that the questions we get at our Embassies aren’t a heck of a lot different than this article talks about!
(And one note of advice: if you are traveling, you may want to consider some sort of insurance that would pay for a medical evacuation, especially if you have health issues and are going to a country without good medical care – or check your insurance policy to be sure it would cover you overseas.)
On Christmas Eve, we went to a nice get-together at a co-worker’s house. John made his famous Hello Dolly cookies to take – but he’s re-named them Hola Lola’s since he is using Mexican ingredients – they were a big hit, whatever you call them!