OK OK so it's been a while. You're telling me. I have been living and learning.
What for a whole year?! I hear you shriek. Lucky for you, I'm back.
For many years I have believed myself to be extremely lucky. Lucky to be born, lucky to be alive, lucky to be here in the west, lucky to have the family I've got , lucky to live where I live..... You get the picture right?
Luck is a fascinating thing. A few weeks ago I was upset by the news that my mother was rushed to hospital. This was particularly worrying because there had been a few deaths in my life recently and mortality was uppermost in my mind at that time......
I live 160 miles from her so my first thought was about arranging my day around getting down to London as soon as I could. Yes, most certainly I drop everything and run, but do I tell everybody, do I throw the dogs in the car, do I tell no one and leave the dogs at home? It was a crazy half hour at least of headless chicken syndrome. Of course no member of my family was answering their phones either which added to my own construction of what must be happening.
Luckily (there's that word again) for me, I am the sort of person that actually does think twice. I figured that it was going to take me a minimum of three and a half hours to get there, but that would be elongated to four and a half if I left immediately, so I might as well wait the half hour and use it to sort out dogs etc and probably by then I would be able to reach someone on the phone.
Luckily (:)) a friend was able to see to the dogs and I set about preparing for my long drive.
Luckily, I was able to get my sister on the phone. She told me that my mum had woken up that morning unable to move, and unable to get out of bed. Luckily for her, it was half term and my sister who would ordinarily be at work, was at home.
Luckily for them, my brother in law was on the late shift so they were able to get round there and pick my mum up to take her to the hospital and leave a message on my voicemail.
Luckily for my mum, who was terrified at her inability to lift herself out of bed and the crazy dizziness she suffered made her scared to move anyway, didn't have to go down any stairs to let my sister in because my sister has a key.
Luckily, the doctors told her that she had not suffered a stroke, heart attack, angina attack, or any of the other scary things that went through her and all of our minds.
Luckily, she had an inner ear infection which had given her vertigo. A very scary, but very curable illness, which meant she was sent home with some pills and advice.
Luckily, my sister was able to give me this information and I could relax and make sure I spoke to my mum every day until she felt better again.
Lucky or What?
