My mom and I were talking this evening on the phone. It’s so hard because she lives in Florida and I’m way out here - the two hour time difference can be difficult. I like to wait to call until after 7 PM when I have free long distance and that is pretty late for anyone over 35 with little kids, let alone my 77 year old mother. So, as I normally do, I take the selfish route and call at 7:00 anyway.
I woke her, of course. She’s always very nice about it. “That’s okay, I just had my eyes closed” which in Trudy code means that she was not FULLY sleeping, just in that haze between awake and asleep.
Our conversation was disjointed at best. My kids choose to ask me 50 million questions whenever I put a phone up to my ear and that can get a little distracting. Tonight was no exception. My mom was very patient and just asked me to repeat things a lot. After the kids finally disappeared for a complete five minute period, I was able to have a better conversation. We talked about me first – she’s really nice about that – and then I asked how she was doing.
Her days have been full of bridge games with friends in their condo community, and crossword puzzles on the lanai, but she still gets bored occasionally. She then filled me in on how the latest chemo treatments have been working. Her cancer marker blood test revealed a large drop in her count this week which is GREAT! Her hair has fallen out, “You should see me, I’m completely bald!” she tells me with a smile. We then discussed the available options she has besides her wig – today she’s leaning towards a turban. (Personally, I’m pushing for a cute Gilligan-style hat.)
She then told me that she has been getting compliments on how good she looks. “Carol, I actually think my wrinkles are disappearing. I keep looking for them! I am still using the same moisturizers.” At this point we are both laughing because it’s almost as if she’s justifying her claims. (Don’t worry, Mom, I don’t think you’ve gone and gotten Botox!) We then laughed as we visualized her in a TV commercial telling everyone the amazing wrinkle decreasing benefits of chemotherapy.
Thank God we can laugh about some of this.
3 comments:
It is cool to see the relationship you have with your Mom. I am glad you have each other through this craziness. Keep on writing. You have a lot to say.
-Beth
My friends 3 year old son has luekemia and is bald too! I hope your Mom does great, theat FL sun has some magic in it.
I'm glad you two can find the laughter in this. My daughter doesn't even recognize my cousin in photos from when she had hair. She screams that the photo is of me and not "aunt favorite" (oops, climbing the lap again...) oddly enough, her skin too is soft and smooth... hmmm... interesting...
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