The Matriarch

I dropped my dad off at the hospital this evening. He's spending the night with my mother. He took with him some baked goods, two slices of pizza, and a thermos of tea.

She had fallen face-first onto the sidewalk while out for a stroll to mail a letter two days ago. Her legs had buckled underneath her. She somehow managed to make it back home. While my dad was cleaning the blood off her face, Shaula had the presence of mind to call me on my cell, this week being Spring Break for the kids. I phoned my mother, who, as it turned out, downplayed the severity of her injuries.

When I saw her after work, I was taken aback by her bruised face. The left eye had swollen shut, and the area around that eye and her forehead were scratched and discoloured. In hindsight, a 911 call should've been placed immediately after the incident, and I should've taken her to the nearest hospital the moment I got home. My sister-in-law was absolutely correct in saying that my mother needed to go to Emerg as soon as possible: she might have suffered a concussion, develop a blood clot, and probably needs a tetanus shot.

I took her to VGH that evening and she's been there since.

Her vitals are fine, but she has a viral infection of some sort, this perhaps explaining the loss of strength in her legs and her recent complaint of a general lack of energy.

They've since subjected her to a battery of lab work, given her a CT Head scan, X-rays of her chest and left wrist (no broken bones there), an ECG, and a tetanus shot.

The findings are: She

1. has an infection, but not urinary in nature (my mother has had a lot of blood in her urine of late)
2. had broken her occiptal orbital and cheek bones
3. has a subdural hematoma. This needs monitoring.

***

Instead of the regular family dinner fare, we've been eating KFC and pizza for the last two days. Betty and I and brother number two are doing the dishes.

My mother's absence—now that she's been away for two days—elevates her, in my eyes, to matriarch.