My mother is not in good health but recovering

This time it is not me.

It is my mother who is sick.  She has been frail for many years.  We had thought that it was because of Parkinson which she is suffering from. This was what the doctor told us, and that other than being giddy and sleepy, she was not ill.  I had initially thought that she was lazy because she did not want to exercise, I know I am bad.

Whenever, she says she is not feeling well to exercise, I would tell her to see doctor, but she wouldn't want to.  However, one Sunday, 3 August, she suddenly insisted that she wanted to go to the hospital. We brought her to A&E, the doctors there also thought that she is just feeling giddy due to Parkinson and let her lie around in the A&E.  Later, they decided to admit her as a neuro patient for observation.

Things did not get better after a few days.  She had no appetite and blood pressure was very low. After the hospital did many blood tests, they found that her red blood count was way below the normal.  This occur for many reasons according to the doctors, malnutrition is one of them, another is internal bleeding.

The doctors did a CT scan on her and found a lump in her intestines. They suspected the growth in the intestines is bleeding and maybe cancer growth.  A colonscopy was done and biopsy confirmed that it is a cancer growth and they had to remove 1/3 of her large intestines.  This was a major surgery.

We were worried that mother could not take the stress of the surgery. However, the doctors had assured us that medically she is healthy and well even though she looks weak.  Her protein level was good (needed for wound recovery), and her heart was good.  Which are good news to us.  Mother made the decision to go ahead with the surgery.  After the surgery, there are times her mind was not in the clear state and she started to babble rubbish and got us worried.  She gradually recover after they put her of morphine.  After about 10 days of monitoring, she was discharged and we sent her to St Luke Community Hospital for rehabilitation. The doctors also confirmed that the cancer cells did not reach the lymph nodes and there is no spreading, which means she would not need to go through chemo or radiography.

Now she is on the road to recovery. Nurses and therapists at St Luke says she is eating well, in fact she ate quite a lot, and willing to exercise. She still need a lot of nutrition and they put her on Resource 2.0 in addition to her normal meals.

However, because of her Parkinson, she will need a caretaker to look after her to prevent her from choking and falling down. We also have to provide good food for her so that she has enough nutrition.  My father is old and his cooking .... haiz (a big sign).  We decided to employ a maid to take care of her and cook, at the same time renovate the house so that it is easier for her to walk.

For the past few weeks, we had been busy sourcing for a maid. Now that the maid will be arriving next week, I would need to tidy up my house and lock up all expensive belongings.  After that, I will need to source for a renovation contractor.

Busy days ahead....  But as long as mother recovers, we will never mind the busy days.

老妈，早日康复。永远健康。