Day 284

And then everything went sideways.

Eldest and SiL were staying here as they cleared out their apartment - much chaos but they put last load in car, turned in keys and headed for our other house (where I took Spouse and girl-beagle over the long weekend so they would have room in the car) this morning.

Meanwhile I had more work than usual due to not just one but two people being gone...and a noon meeting I didn't expect.

In the early afternoon just as I thought I was getting on top of the day my MiL called. Her older sister's Parkinsonian husband had complained of stomach pain and they had done an x-ray at the nursing home and taken him straight to the emergency room. By report he "had all kinds of tubes" and "didn't look good." I was in limbo a good 3 hours then she called back to say he was in the ICU.

I went up to the ICU waiting room and only after I had been there for a while did I learn that one of the "tubes" was a ventilator. Bottom line: he isn't going to make it at all and has probably a 50/50 chance of holding on till morning. He was miserable in recent months and is pain-free now so that part is okay but of course his wife is in shock. She's staying with MiL and I have cordless phone at bedside.

Got home two hours late and still had most of the home stuff to do...but not all because Youngest dealt with all the animals and offered ABL a snack which he declined. Having her home again has already been a huge help and it was serendipitous that MiL suddenly had a spare bedroom again. Weird how these things work out.

I'm doing surprisingly well, all things considered. Appropriate sadness but no huge emotional spikes either up or down. Made sure to eat real food not junk and that helped as did the shower I decided not to postpone till morning. Having a habit of true self-care instead of "I am -so- having a drink when I get home" makes everything easier.