My mom did not have a very good day today. It seems that her entire digestive system is rebelling against her completely, and she had diarrhea pretty much every hour, as well as nausea only resolved by vomiting (forget all the drugs that the nurses pumped into her to quell that). What was amazing was that she was able to sit, on the edge of the bed, for a little while. Granted, she needed them to both sit her up, and then lay her back down, but it was amazing because the other day (yesterday!) she could not even lift up her head, and there she is, sitting there, with no support. They have moved her down the floor to a private, palliative care room, with free television and even a fridge (not that she wants anything). It's nice to be in a private room, but it is also very different, as the space is in many ways tighter. And, without curtains, anytime my mom needs help with certain things, she will now be kicking everyone out of the room instead of just being seperated by the curtain. Once again, I feel like my mom and I have a connection...I had a stomachache for much of today, for no reason I could think of...just like when my stomach was all knotted up and I found out my mom had been taken to the emergency room for an intestinal obstruction. It seems like when her stomach is particularly bothering her, mine will bother me...

At this point, we all feel like we're just waiting. She's ready...I guess we're about as ready as one can be. I'm meanwhile trying to balance spending time up at the hospital with school with coping skills. Sunday night I started sleeping with the baby afghan she made me at the top of my pillow. And-here's where I admit something I don't usually, for whatever reason-watching an episode or two of Star Trek is somehow comforting. Between watching more tv than usual (mostly, I watch very little although I have many shows on dvd that I can play on my computer) and being at the hospital, I have been knitting up a storm. Case in point, I finished a baby afghan for a friend who's due in January in less than three weeks-I started it the day my mom entered the hospital with the intestinal obstruction, and finished it on monday. It's done in the fan-and-feather pattern-the exact same afghan pattern my mom used for my baby afghan. My friend 'Carmen' and I are pretty close, and I will share the story of the afghan with her-when it was made, and why the pattern means so much to me. I just wish I could share it in person at the time, but she is now across the country from me! Such is life.

It's late, and I should go to bed. Thank goodness in these days for my wonderful seroquel perscription...