Some sad, but hopeful news... →[More:]
Last Friday night, my mom, who's 96 years young, fell and broke her right femur. She had surgery to insert a steel rod into the bone to support it on Saturday. Yesterday she was well enough to be transferred to the rehabilitation floor at the nursing home. She's doing much better, knock on wood, which I am very grateful for. There were a few days there where I was really scared she might not recover. Luckily, she has no complicating medical issues, but she's so petite and frail. She's had knee and hip replacements on the other leg before and recovered well, but she's older now. Still, I'm encouraged.

I found out what had happened when I showed up at the house on Saturday to take my mom to lunch and found her car in the garage, but no mom. I called my brother, who's a doctor and who lives nearby (I'm about an hour and a half away), and as soon as he heard my voice, I could tell he realized he'd forgotten to call me. I wasn't mad, just mildly annoyed; he and my other brother had been at the hospital with her in the middle of the night Friday. Luckily I made it to the hospital in time to be with her before surgery, along with my other brother. And luckily my mom was wearing an "I've fallen and can't get up" alarm button hooked into the house alarm around her neck, and she was able to call for help right away.

Yesterday I brought her snacks and a couple of six-packs of Ensure to help boost her calories and nutrition, since she has such trouble eating hospital food. She was feeling weak, but after a couple of Ensures, which she was able to suck down with a straw very well, she felt stronger. At the hospital, she had a lot of pain and, mercifully, was on some strong pain medicine that really put her in la-la land, but at the rehab. facility last night, she was resting more comfortably on less pain meds and was a lot more talkative and more herself. Poor little thing. It'll be a long road.