"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Friday, September 28, 2012

Kibbles and bits
Posted by Jill | 6:28 AM
It has not been a good week here at Casa la Brilliant. Our hyperthyroid catbaby Maggie decided to stop eating, and my 85-year-old mother, who last Wednesday was a bit dotty but coherent at her pulmonologist's office (she has advanced COPD, congestive heart failure, and arterial stenosis), was completely out of it a week later. My sister, whose organizational and logistical work she's done in arranging for care can ever adequately rewarded, is utterly exhausted and spent, and I am here in New Jersey, able to do little more than wring my hands, take phone calls, and feel guilty that I am not doing more. Add this to a crushing workload at the office, and I'm pretty spent myself, which just makes me feel guiltier because what I'm doing is a walk in the park compared to what my sister is going through.

Yesterday I got to talk to Mom during the closing of what apparently was a 90-second window of lucidity, and she repeated a phrase of gibberish a few times, which sounded like "I ate a duck", which at one time would have been plausible, because at one time the words "Chinese" and "duck" used together were one of the few things that could make her grin broadly.

She could still bounce back; I'm told that when the hospice nurse came by for an evaluation yesterday, she said "I'm a smart person. I think I had a stroke." But she's sleeping much of the time, which is probably not a bad thing, because the last news I heard last night was that 911 had to be called to take her to the hospital because she was screaming that she was being held prisoner.

There will be much more to write about my mother at some point. But in the context of our fears this week about Maggie (still not 100% assuaged, as another vet is going to look at her X-rays to definitively rule out masses), it all makes me think that as the elephant that is my generation passes through the snake that is the health care system, the creation of ethical suicide parlors is not a bad idea. A place where we will be able to go when we become infirm and where we can be painlessly slipped away in a room with a comfy bed fitted with bedding warm from the dryer, after a nice meal, and with beautiful music playing in our ears as we exit this level of reality starts seeming like not a bad thing, certainly better than ending up pissing ourselves and having all the demons in our heads activated as the neurons start firing erratically.

But while one family's chaos swirls about, and many cans of cat food and bags of kibble are opened in the hope that one of them will tempt Miss Maggie to eat, the world goes on and it is, after all, an election year.

It's going to start being difficult for the Republicans to steal this election through voter purges, voter ID laws, and "True the Vote" intimidation tactics, as people are starting to realize that Republicans are NOT on their side.

Whenever a Republican accuses someone not of their team of doing something, look further. Because you can bet that they're the ones doing it. Like, say, registering fake voters.

Why do Republican lies keep coming faster and more furious? Because the press can't keep up with debunking them so a sizable number just sneak through.

Let's not have any "Jewish conspiracy" talk about this. I think it's just about wanting to look like a Klingon.

Willard once said that Bain Capital might take up to eight years to turn a company around. And yet he only wants to give Barack Obama four years to turn around an entire country? I'm starting to really like Sarah Silverman:



My mom let her drivers' license expire a couple of months ago and never got a replacement photo ID. Too bad she doesn't have a gun permit. If she did, she'd be able to vote. And wouldn't that gun permit have been reassuring to the EMTs that had to take her to the hospital last night.

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3 Comments:
Blogger jurassicpork said...
Jill, I'm sorry to hear about your woes, girl. It seems at times as if the best of us have been turned into a speed bag by the cruel, colossally indifferent Gods of Circumstance. I know what's like to have a cat stop eating. I've gone through that nightmare twice in the last several years and it's not fun. As for your Mom, it seems as if she hasn't been diagnosed as terminal. If not, then why is she under the care of a hospice nurse?

Let's hope you catch a break or that something breaks one way or the other.
9/28/12, 8:57 AM  
Blogger Degringolade said...
I am with you on the sick mother thing. Just came back from visiting mine and it was tough.

Just keep your head up. This is a predicament that everyone has to go through. I'm pulling for you and will remember you in my prayers.

John
9/28/12, 1:21 PM  
Blogger Bob said...
Best wishes to you & mom.
9/28/12, 9:47 PM  
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