Update On My Sister

My sister had a stroke as I told you in a previous post. There were anxious moments as she underwent various treatments. Again I mentioned them in a previous post.

My daughter and her family stopped in to visit my sister on their way to a vacation destination. She called me and sounded a bit upset.

My daughter told me that one side of her aunt's head is still seriously swollen. The nurse told my daughter that my sister has a touch of dementia so not to be alarmed if she did not recognize people.

She did recognize her niece immediately and asked if my granddaughter was there. She was. They had a nice visit but my sister was weak and seemed to tire quickly.

Her conversation rambled a bit. There were times when my daughter was not certain if my sister was talking about our mother or my daughter's mother (me).

She was making motions like she was trying to wake someone up next to her. At times she thought it was her husband, other times her son, and sometimes nurses or aides. She said they needed somewhere to sleep because they got so tired.

My sister is still in the long term care facility. They do all sorts of therapy and testing. It seems as if they are taking good care of her.

My nephew visits every day. He has been telling me that she gets better every day. I am wondering how much of that is wishful thinking.

I cannot afford to visit her right now. I write her and my nephew reads the letters to her. Apparently she can have extremely short phone conversations. I need to figure out what I will say in a short amount of time. I also need to collect myself so I will not upset her.

Another nephew's wife made a collage of family photos. It is marvelous. They delivered it to her today.

This was partially an update and partially catharsis for me. Hope you don't mind.