a bit of bad news

maybe i shouldn't call home too often. i just worry about my aging parents.

i talked to my mom yesterday and found out the results of her latest doctor appointment. she visited an orthopedic something-or-other on friday and was told she'd need back sugery. she's been dealing with a pinched nerve in her lower back for the last few weeks. it's bad enough that she's has some numbness in her legs. her doctor diagnosed her with spinal stenosis and said that back surgery would fix 'er up. however, my mother is at least 80 lbs overweight and that creates some problems. she's going to work on losing about 50 lbs and in the meantime she'll have an epidural pain system put in place on october 10. (yeah, 2 weeks from now. arg. i guess this clinic is up to it's neck in people suffering pain, that was the first available appointment. maybe i should look into a job in anesthesiology...i have to learn how to spell it first, though. thank goodness for spell check.)

so after her weight loss (which may take up to a year? she's not very mobile so she won't be able to exercise it off) and recovery from back surgery, then she can plan on a hip & knee replacement, which is the primary reason she's been in & out of doctor offices for the last 9 months. she took a nasty fall in january and hurt her knee and her limping around on a sore knee was enough to irritate her hip. she's known that she should get a hip replacement, she's been having problems with her hips for the last 15 years. her frame of mind is that you don't go to a doctor unless you're bleeding or in horrible pain, so she's been trying prescription drugs to deal with the pain from her hips. she was able to put it off long enough that everything needed fixed at once. and i'm about 1300 miles away from being able to help her.

i asked mom if she had a plan for losing weight and she said that my dad was going to do it with her (he's also overweight, at least 80 lbs). so at least they have some support from each other. and i plan on calling her daily to harass her. i mean, um, give her diet tips. :)

my mom also told me about my sister-in-law, sharon. she was in the hospital over the weekend. she was visiting a friend and was walking down the stairs at the apartment complex...she missed the last few stairs and ended up hyper-extending her knee. sharon is really overweight, she should probably lose at least 150 lbs and the skin on her knee kind of "burst" with that kind of stress. there was no bone damage though, it was all skin & muscle tears. i believe there were several layers of stitches and a few days' stay in the hospital. she'll be coming home today and then out of work for a few weeks. my brother works 4 day weekends, so he'll be able to take care of her this week without losing out on his paycheck.

and my cousin, mark, is still on the heart transplant list. he had a massive heart attack in 2005 the damage done to his heart required that he have a pacemaker. now his pacemaker cannot keep up with his heart problems, so onto the list he goes. he & his wife have 2 girls, i think about 11 and 9.

i really don't know what i could do for my mom if we went to iowa for a visit. reese is in K 5 days a week, other than that we don't really have any commitments. i could homeschool reese for kindergarten and go to iowa for an extended time. i just don't know how much good i could do, i'd feel better for being there but i don't think having 3 kids around would help my mom much.

so i guess we make plans to go there for christmas? does my mom need the hassle of having house guests at christmas? we invited them down here for christmas, but i doubt my mom can travel that long.

so how's that for a monday morning waker-upper? :) maybe you have some misery of your own to keep mine company?