Still Sick

Called in sick today... for Nanay duty. She's actually my Lola (grandmother), but we grew up calling our grandmothers "Nanay" (mother) because that's what we heard our parents call them.

Anyway, I'm too congested to handle the demands of a 92 year old woman who needs the heater to stay at 70 degrees all night and who needs to be repositioned three times before she's satisfied enough to close her eyes at 11:30p, to awaken at 2a to use the bathroom, then repositioned another three times, to awaken again at 5a to use the bathroom then insist on moving to her armchair in the living room, leaving me to try to reclaim sleep on the neighboring armchair or couch, but I have to be ready to possibly take her to the bathroom again at 7a.

I do this Monday, Tuesday and Friday nights. My mom does Wednesday & Thursday night. My aunt gets her every day during the day & early evenings, and dall day on weekends. She works graveyard so my mom and I split the evenings during the week. I get worn out & weary to the point of desperate frustration just in my three nights. I don't know how my aunt handles seven days a week. It is true that as people age, they revert to childish ways. My grandmother babbles when she speaks, and so slowly at that. She is stubborn, never heeding our warnings, and she believes she can still ambulate independently when she really can't. But I love her and I know she's not long for this earth, so I draw on every reserve of patience I have left to be there for her. What's a few hours sleep in exchange for no regrets?

Anyway, I've never called in sick for Nanay duty before, because it requires either my mom to replace me or my aunt to call in sick. I must've sounded awful on the phone today because my aunt didn't even hesitate and told me to stay home and rest.

I stayed up all night last night, not able to get comfortable. I can't sleep when I can hear myself wheezing. It's almost 1a and I'm watching Giada eating her way around Chicago on the Food Network, because again, I'm not close to being sleepy. I'm closer to being hungry than sleepy. Now it's Paula Dean, who cracks me up. I love her Southern accent. And she always manages to have some really handsome assistants.

I read a really good book today. "Love, Rosie" by Cecelia Ahern. The whole book is a collection of emails, letters and IM exchanges that spans more than 30 years in the live of Rosie and Alex, best friends since elementary. It's really quite clever and entertaining. They're two people who seem so right for each other, but the stars never seem to align for them. I enjoyed it greatly and now I'm curious to read Ahern's other books.

I've also been reading the Left Behind series, a fictional account of life after the Rapture. It's Christian fiction that mostly reads like a suspense/thriller, but even when you suspend your disbelief..or belief... to accept it as fiction, it still doesn't quite cut it. Yet I'm somewhat motivated to complete the series.

You ever feel so desperate for sleep you wanna cry?

But I'm hungry now. Damn you, Paula Dean!