I can't even come up with a title. Gretchen went home last night so that she could go to work this morning. She is planning on taking the end of the week off so that I can go home and we will still be double-teaming mom's care. Mom did not get much sleep last night, so Adrienne and I didn't get much sleep either. She woke up every few minutes to groan and moan and basically to find out that she was still alive and be pissed off. She did switch to telling us that she loves us, but we knew that even when she hated us. I went to a lounge to sleep for a few hours at around 4am and when I came back she had been given a shot of valium. So I sent Adrienne off to sleep and mom actually slept (fitfully, but slept) for almost 2 hours. I was actually rejoicing at 10 minutes. She slept 10 minutes! I will have to remember to tell Adrienne. But when she kept going I propped my head in my hands and I slept a little bit too.

This morning the torture began anew. They came in with a portable x-ray machine and attempted to slide a large plate behind her back. Her back that just had two major surgeries on it a few days ago. She was screaming, we demanded that he stop. He was very surprised to see that we were absolutely serious. When the doctor came they said they had to clean out her wounds. The surgeon showed up and we explained to him that pain management was the most important thing. Period. He listened to mom screaming that she wanted to die for a little while and we chatted about that and when it started, etc. He promised that they would give her all of the pain meds they could before they rolled her over to check her wounds. I have learned my limits and I knew I had to leave. Adrienne decided to stay but she just called and she said they wouldn't let her. So she is waiting in the lounge and I am going to bring her some breakfast.

That's where we are.