Cystitis and CNN

When you live with your parents, you never (emphasis on the never) know what's going to happen. Every day always starts out with certain expectations, but in reality, anything can, and does, happen around here. Like this morning. I woke up thinking the entire day was planned (my first mistake; you'd think I'd learn to not do that anymore) just as it was on the calendar--Dentist appt for Mom at noon; health aid here from 1-4pm. Pretty simple day. But it was around 10am when Mom zipped down the hall with her walker and headed into the bathroom, and then back to her bedroom. Then back again to the bathroom about five minutes later. And again another five minutes after that. For all of you ladies out there, this can mean only one thing--bladder infection, or cystitis. Mom gets them regularly--about every couple of months, not uncommon for women her age I've been told. I called and made her an appointment. The soonest they could see her was 2:40pm.

So........and this is where the CNN reference comes in.............what I've noticed about Mom when she has cystitis is that her brain gets even cloudier than it normally is. And one way this manifests is with the television. My mother is a CNN addict. It's always on. Always. Channel 202. Not 220, that's the Healthy Food channel. Very different from CNN (for most of us) but Mom has trouble punching the right numbers in the right sequence so oftentimes, she ends up watching Jack LaLanne instead of Wolf Blitzer. (like it matters...) Anyway, whatever's on the TV is always on--in the living room AND in her bedroom (since Mom regularly goes back and forth between rooms for comfort's sake). And, as I think I've mentioned before, my office is located between these two rooms so I often get CNN in stereo. Lucky me.

This morning, with Mom in the throes of her cystitis, I encouraged her to just stay in bed on her back until it was time to go to her appointment. She seemed most comfortable in a lying down position, so that seemed to be the best way to get her comfortably through the morning. Her TV, of course, was on CNN. But, the cystis-induced-brain-fog kicked in and Mom suddenly, predictably, insisted that her TV was NOT on CNN, that something was wrong with her television. Okay, I said, and used the remote to show her it was indeed on Channel 202, CNN. Nope. She didn't buy it. She insisted I was wrong. That was not CNN on her TV. oy. What are ya gonna do? I promised her it WAS on CNN, suggested she try to stay on her back, and drink as much water as possible. I left to my office and was gone no more than five minutes when she began moaning. I ran in only to find her perplexed and confused because the TV was not on CNN. The remote was in her hand. And, sure enough, I looked at the TV and there was Jack LaLanne mixing up potato leek juice in his handy dandy juicer (btw......how old IS Jack LaLanne????). Mom had done it again--220 instead of 202. So I switched it back for her, calmed her down and returned to my office again.

Another five minutes later, more moans. I ran back in. This time, Mom insisted that I was on her TV, on CNN, repeating everything I had just told her the last time I was in her room. No Mom, I reassured her, I'm not in your TV. It's not possible that I was on your TV. Of course, she didn't believe me.

So this is how my day has begun today. Keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. For one, I never thought CNN and cystitis would ever appear in the subject line of any of my blogs. Just two minutes ago, Mom decided to eat breakfast, but almost did so in ONLY her Depends and slippers because she started for the dining room BEFORE forgetting she had taken off her nightgown to get dressed and then neglected to actually get dressed. Oh dear. And now........to Google Jack LaLanne....