This Looks Familiar

It's like déjà vu all over again. 

Yogi Berra

I am sitting somewhere unfortunately familiar --- a bedside chair in a hospital room. In the past 365 days I have found myself on this somewhat uncomfortable perch more than I would have liked. Truthfully, I never LIKE it here unless it is for a birth of a precious little chickie --- and even then I would rather be home safe and sound. No, this is never a place that is liked. It is only tolerated as a means of healing.

It began with a wacky conversation with my mother last summer, followed by a mad dash to the ER and the crash course: "The Care and Feeding of Elderly Parents --- Things You Never Knew and Maybe Never Wanted To --- Lesson One: Infections Make Old Folks Loopy"

Weekly trips to the hospital's wound care center for my father soon followed. Those  sojourns eventually evolved into a goodbye vigil for my daddy, just days after another trip to the operating room failed to deliver it's promise of health and renewed strength for his tired, hurting soul.

Within a few months, my mother had her first trip via ambulance to the ER. The visit won her a week's stay on the soon to be remodeled fourth floor.  January's flu season hit close to home and my mom got sucker-punched and landed back in the ER with another hospital admission.

The Geek decided he wanted some TLC too so he went and got a nasty bug that evolved into something scary pretty fast --- earning him a week's stay on the newly remodeled fourth floor.

Just when it looked like we were on solid ground, the rug got swept out from under us again. An upset stomach quickly turned life threatening for my mother and a trip via ambulance confirmed she was in critical condition. Emergency surgery was a success and now here I sit, as I have too often in the past year, providing comfort through words of hope and just being present.

I am certain this is not my last stint within these quiet hospital walls. With an octogenarian mother and aging in-laws (not to mention the fact my beloved and I are nearing the big 5-0 ourselves) it is pretty much inevitable I will soon be here once again feeling an unpleasant sense of déjà vu all over again.