Meat in life's sandwich

[Brat]

Those who know me well know I have been living the eldercare version of ‘rope a dope’. In the last 6 years my now 90 year old mother has suffered a collapsed spine and two hip replacements, all the while coping with the progression of Osteoporosis and Parkinson’s. Many a time I thought she had breathed her last.

This week she has been treated for an infection which two antibiotics have not yet abated. Others in the family are reporting that she is failing; care staff tells them that ‘she is not well’. Today I call for a status update and hear that she ate desert, only. Basically that she should be good for another 24 hours.

As I ponder her situation, if she had not already prepared the headstone to be shared with my deceased Father, I would add “I ate desert first.”