A Testing Time

(Note : This post was written on 29-03-2023, Wednesday.)

One evening as I was chilling out in bed, I got a text message from my mum. Her blood pressure reading was still unsatisfactory.

I asked if she wanted to go and see the doctor. My brother was busy catching up with his work because he had sacrificed a lot of his time going to and from the hospital when my dad had his medical crisis.  He is also hosting our parents at his house and taking care of their daily meals and needs.

So I volunteered to take her to the clinic with my partner's help. There was also an upcoming follow up visit at the hospital that weekend.

Mum is now a little bit forgetful and she forgot that I had already confirmed with her that my partner and I would be taking her to the hospital that weekend for her follow up with the hand surgeon.

Due to her lapse in memory, she approached my brother to ask him to drop her and dad at the hospital that coming weekend. My brother was aware of the prior arrangement and due to work stress, that led to a misunderstanding of sorts and some upsets. So my brother texted me to please remind my mum because she is "changing the story".

Those of you who have to deal with the elderly (with declining cognition) will understand that the situation can be very testing on your patience. A little bit of understanding and kindness can go a long way (even though we may feel irritated) as we don't want to hurt our parents' feelings. 

Sure, to be honest I was stressed too and I texted my partner to tell him of the next day's arrangement. To cut the long story short, the visit to the doctor went well with my mum admitting that she did not take her medication as prescribed. Instead of three pills, she chose to take only two. No wonder her blood pressure was still high. 

Before I left the house that morning, I had a little something (which was meant for lunch hah..hah...).

I was hungry and I decided that this was going to be breakfast.

I took this photo of Belle Belle the evening before. 

After sending my mum back to my brother's house, I went to work. Come lunch time, I was hungry but not that hungry. I didn't know what/where to eat. Red Kettle? Nah... Hitoyoshi Ramen? Nah... I was actually thinking of dessert. Oh dear. For lunch?

So I ended up here. I browsed through the menu and of course none of the main dishes appealed to me. I was here for the comfort eating. 

The Strawberry Waffle Tower. I haven't had sweet cravings in a long while but it popped up that day.

That spiky thing is a stationery item that you put at your desk to spike receipts and small bills. The pointy end looked very dangerous and after I removed all the waffles, I made it lie down. The first few bites of the waffle was nice (the strawberry sauce was sickly sweet though) but after that it was just meh. 

I guess this type of dessert is not appealing to my tastebuds anymore. It may still play in my mind and remind me of the time when I used to relish this sort of thing. This is good news to me because waffles, ice cream and sugar are something that I do not need to mess me up.

Ah yes, I also had a latte to keep me company.  I guess my brother(s) and I have arrived at another chapter of our lives where it is our turn to look out for our parents and to extend to them the time, patience and sacrifice as they had done for us when we were growing up. They may have raised their voices at us when we tested their patience, but we should not do that to them.

We must always treat them with love, dignity, respect and kindness at all times. Amen.