Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Sandwich Generation-make mine ginger cream!

Yesterday I took my father out to go to a class on cataract surgery which he is having next week. He did not bring his hearing aids so he could not hear the woman who was talking, nor could he hear the audio visual presentation. Because he has macular degeneration in addition to really bad cataracts, he cannot see at all out of his left eye. And his right eye isn't much better. So he couldn't read the booklet they gave us and could not see the TV screen either. After that, I spent time explaining everything to him and then drove him around running several errands.

I had been so tired from a very busy weekend that yesterday morning I went down to the studio for just a couple of hours in order to move everything back where it belonged so it would be back in working order and then took off to take my dad out. It takes me about 40 minutes, depending upon traffic to get to his house from mine. My studio is about half way there but out of the way.

So, after I dropped my Dad off yesterday at 5pm I got a call from my daughter. She was dreadfully sick, vomiting and spending too much time on the toilet. Her husband was also pretty sick but not quite as bad as she was. Jacob and Ashton were ok but could I come over and help with the kids as both adults were too sick...so grammy to the rescue!

Got there, fixed some food for Jacob, fed Ashton, played with Ashton, stayed out of the parent's way and then just as I was going to get Jacob to bed he started vomiting and vomiting and vomiting. All over the floor, all over the bath room, all over his clothes, all over the towel we got, etc. So into the bathtub he went while I cleaned up messes and cleaned him up. Then got him out of the bath and he proceeded to vomit all over me and the bathroom so back into the tub he went. I had nothing to change into. Yuck! Finally got him to bed and before I could even get him settled in, he started vomiting in bed...which of course meant clean bedding including mattress pad, sheets, and pjs and back into the bathtub to clean him up again. Got a big tupperware storage container for him to hang on to and that worked. Every 20-30 minutes he was up vomiting again. At one point mother and son were both in the bathroom vomiting together...

I ended up spending the night there just to take care of Jacob. Fortunately, Ashton did not get sick. But I was up until after midnight and then up several times during the night to empty the bowl and comfort a sick child. My husband's car was at the shop so he couldn't bring my pj's , robe and slippers over so a friend came to the rescue and brought them over. Finally I got into something dry and was able to avoid more stuff on my clothes.

This morning I took care of the boys and then finally left their house at 10am to come home, shower and change and then go off to Berkeley to pick up my father for more medical appointments regarding his eye surgery. Finally got him back home at 3: 30pm, stopped by a scrapbook store which has neat things, stopped and got a Foster's freeze ice cream and then headed home. Just as I got off the freeway I got a call from my daughter...Mom....where are you? Can you come help us some more because we have no energy to fix dinner or whatever.

So, super grammy to the rescue again. This time it was to cook chicken flavored rice, wash dishes, feed Ashton after his mom nursed him, play with Jacob who just wasn't going to eat, get clothes out of the dryer ( oh yeah, all the stuff got washed last night including my clothes), threw the ball for the dog for a while, changed poopy diapers, etc. I finally got home at 7:30 to a husband who tells me he is sick and has spent too much time on the toilet too and now has chills and fiver...

I think I will run away!

Tomorrow I am supposed to have the day to myself except that now I have to get the car from the shop. At least my dad doesn't have another medical appointment until Thursday and then that is it until his surgery date.

But in the meantime I am three days behind in doing critiques for my on line class. Well, I do plan to get those done tomorrow....

So, since I have fallen in love with Paul Newman's ginger cream sandwich cookies, I guess that is the one I will be!

But, in the meantime, here are some more of my Wisdom Words collages. They are again $20 each with $5 for mailing.

Wisdom Words #4

Wisdom words #5 SOLD

Wisdom words #6 SOLD

See you all tomorrow!

4 comments:

Terry Grant said...

Yikes. I got queasy just reading about your day! Hope you don't get what's afflicting your family.

Karen said...

We are the in between generation, taking care of parents, children and grandchildren. Take care of yourself

TALL GIRL said...

Wish I'd had a mother like you when my daughter was wee. Her grandmother got upset if baby wrinkled her skirt, let alone puked all over her! Hope your daughter knows how blessed she is!

Gerrie said...

OMG!! You are a saint. That is my new name for you St. Liz!! Hope everyone is healthy now. Most of our group on the pilgrimage had this, even Steve, I avoided it.