worrying about my mother

[redbird]

My brother and I are both worried about our mother: she's a lot weaker than she was a few months ago, and apparently hasn't been eating much. So far, the doctors she's seen haven't found anything specific, and/but she has a follow-up appointment on Monday, by which time the doctor will have more blood test results to help him figure things out.

I'm not jumping on a plane tonight, but I will likely be going to London soon, with Cattitude and Adrian. Even if she's feeling a lot better by Tuesday, I haven't seen her in a while, and want to. Mark is probably flying to London in a few days, in any case, even though she visited him for Mardi Gras.

I've done some planning and preparation: we all three have valid passports, and I now a UK Electronic Travel Authorization, which they started requiring a few weeks ago. It took me about 20 minutes to apply, much of that spent repeatedly trying to get their iPhone app to read the RFID chip in my passport, and about two minutes for them to approve it. So I can visit the UK anytime in the next two years, as frequently as I like.

I emailed our catsitter yesterday, and said that I might need them soon but I didn't know how soon, and she assured me someone would be available. (The person I talked to has a small team of cat-sitters.)

Fortunately, the very simple instructions the GI specialist gave me on Monday seem to have resolved my problem (I've been fine since Monday afternoon). Thank goodness for that last-minute appointment.

Comments

[otter]

Sending you love.

[anne]

Oh gosh. Fingers crossed for all of it.

[sabotabby]

Good luck. That's so hard.

[acelightning2]

Elderly people often lose their appetite, not because of any systemic thing, but just because as we age our senses of smell and taste decline. So maybe find ways to make her food tastier - a bit more salt, or a new seasoning of some kind. Discuss it with her doctors and carers. And occasionally "seniors" have difficulty swallowing, and there are treatments to deal with this.

[ethelmay]

Sometimes a relatively minor infection (often bladder) can cause a downward spiral. I should think they would have thought of that, though.

[redbird]

We are definitely hoping that they find a UTI, because those are easily treatable. I would assume they thought of that and it's one of the things that she was tested for a few days ago. It seems possible that the person the NHS sent to check on her a couple of days ago didn't have access to that batch of tests, even if the results ere otherwise ready.

[used_songs]

I hope everything works out for the best.

[umadoshi]

I hope the doctors are able to figure out what's wrong and help your mom.

And thank goodness for figuring out something to help your poor GI system!