Recuperation

The title is hopeful and optimistic, and that is how I feel.

Mom was very weak upon her return from hospital, but I’ve never given up hope that she will recover her strength. She’s not so sure, and has been looking rather down and has a “giving up” attitude about her. Today I spent some time working through her exercises – it was only less than 10 minutes but she got rather tired. I kept reassuring her she will get better if she keeps it up. Living in the moment, she seems not to be able to imagine a future when she is strong again.

I look forward to bringing her for a walk outside in the coming days, and hopefully we can manage a meal outside in a couple of weeks. Sure we could probably do it now with a wheelchair, but that’s a compromise (or lazy solution) I think we can avoid for the moment.

There is a Buddhist lesson I read about being grateful for a non-toothache. Think about it – a toothache is a body-enveloping misery centred around a pain in the middle of your head. It hurts to breathe, to speak, to swallow. The throbbing interrupts your every thought. Yet… everyday we go about when we are not having a toothache, we don’t give our teeth a second thought. We don’t value our healthy teeth until something goes wrong.

Everyday of good health Mom had before this crisis was a blessing that we enjoyed without a second thought. When she was in hospital, it’s funny but the things I missed about having her at home were the things that used to annoy me – the TV being on for hours and too loud, the water gushing while she washed, the fan spinning in the living room while she took a nap. It then occurred to me, these petty annoyances are preferable to the alternative.