Mom & Me Three Archive

    First one in a long time, since before her hospital odysseys began this summer, which is why I'm mentioning it. If you're interested in the details of the actual accident, here's the link. I'm not sure why this one occurred. I can't think of any prominent differences in what she's been eating or doing over the last couple of weeks. She didn't feel uncomfortable beforehand: No stomach upset, no cramping, no gas, no indication this was going to happen. There are some minor possibilities, very minor, actually:

• Large doses of iron can cause both/either constipation and/or diarrhea. Since the beginning of her last course of UTI antibiotics she's been on a somewhat higher dose than previously: I switched her to two Niferex-150's instead of one Niferex-150 and four 18 mg Iron Protein Succinylate capsules. However, I'm thinking that since she's had no problem previous to this and it's been at least two weeks since we began this regimen (which I intend to continue through her next blood draw, which will tell me if the higher dose of iron is raising her hemoglobin more than her previous iron regimen), it's probably not the iron.
• Could be the switch back to popcorn for the last few days.
• Could be, since she's moving around more, her bowels are appreciating the exercise and are responding with their own, minor, get-in-shape regimen.
• Considering that she felt fine before the accident and even better afterwards, I'm thinking that maybe her bowels were just doing some fine tuning, sort of a spring cleaning.

    All these possibilities are shots in the dark. I seem to need to take a few of these shots in order to try to anticipate if we're going to be having further accidents. Unfortunately, none of them are helping to move me beyond a wait-and-see basis.
    This afternoon while Mom was napping my spirit felt like it needed a dose of Grand Canyon. Fifteen minutes into the movie Mom awoke from her nap. Although I doubted that she'd remember seeing it, I remembered that the one time she viewed it she wasn't impressed. I really felt the need to treat myself to an immersion in this movie's spirit, though, so decided to try watching it with Mom. This time she liked the movie, especially the sub-story about finding the baby. She didn't ask why they went to the Grand Canyon at the end of the movie this time and wasn't surprised that the movie ended when they arrived. Without me asking, afterwards she said, enthusiastically, "I like that movie!" I didn't remind her that she'd dismissed it on her first viewing. I guess it all depends on how much of her mind is available for concentration at any particular time. I guess today was a good day for that.
    And, that's what's so strange about this particular bowel accident. All her other accidents, as I recall, have occurred when she wasn't feeling really good physically and was mentally hazy. Today was an out-of-pattern accident.
    Oh well, the only two guarantees birth grants us are change and death.