Mom & Me Three Archive

...and, already, I'll be glad when it's over," I told my mother as I tucked her into bed tonight.
    She laughed. "Aren't you glad I don't want to travel anymore," she responded.
    Yes. I am. We'll be back home probably about 36 hours after we leave. I'm shaving the amount of stuff we have to take by deciding I'm not going to take any stats, thus we don't have to take her monitors. We'll be eating one meal, possibly two, out, thus I don't have to take food for those meals; since we will be in Phoenix I'm taking decidedly less oxygen than we might otherwise; we'll take her walker but not the wheelchair. Still, there is an amazing amount of stuff I've been collecting and packing today:

• extra sets of clothes, in case she leaks through;
• a plastic sheet for her bed and pads to put on top of her sheets, just in case (she's very concerned about wetting her sheets at a motel);
• a carefully figured number of paper underwear which still fills, with the folded bed pads, one entire Depends box;
• pills (both meds and supplements) for 36 hours for her and me, plus Tums for her in case her stomach gets upset, acetaminophen in case her knee or back bothers her and metoclopramide, just in case
• extra towels and washcloths, as I know the hotel won't have as many as I use on her;
• all her bathing and grooming stuff;
• all mine, too, which is nothing compared to hers
• all her regular food for Saturday, plus food for MPS;
• her magazines and a crossword puzzle book
• baby wipes and paper towels, just in case;
• napkins, plastic eating utensils and durable cups and glasses;
• sunglasses, sunblock, tissues.

    It is amazing, how many things I do for her everyday without thinking that, when broken down into units of activity, concern and stuff, become close to overwhelming for just a short trip. I can't even imagine traveling with her any distance for any length of time. She can't, either. It exhausted her today watching me prepare. She took an extra long nap this afternoon, which was fine with me. It gave me more uninterrupted prep time.
    Although I considered this trip a practice for other possible trips, I'm convinced, now, I don't want to do this very often. Mom was right some months ago when she said, "Let them come to us." Absolutely.
    To bed.
    Later, probably sometime Sunday.