Yvonne Perkins on Nostr: Started the day a miserable person. My mother is in hospital after a fall and in good ...

Started the day a miserable person. My mother is in hospital after a fall and in good nick all considering. But she posted a selfie of her with her massive black eye to the family and said she can't see out of one eye.

I burst into random tears with my brother on the phone, but had a good conversation about how to handle medical professionals and Mum's return to home. We are going to push for her to go to respite care because she is not safe to go home with compromised eyesight and not knowing what caused the fall.

But then Mum accidentally lifted my spirits. Both she and my brother are quite hard of hearing. They take all their calls on LOUD speaker phone. Mum had been given an ice pack for her eye which reduced swelling so she could now see out of both eyes. Amazing! Now she reckoned she was ready to go home. My brother said he didn't think so, but she disagreed. They had an argument which ended up with my brother telling her the incredibly strict conditions of her going home - basically you are not allowed to move out of your lounge chair. My brother conveyed that message in our family chat, with me gently questioning why Mum was going home, and my brother explained in a more private channel that she was placating Mum but our original plan was still the way to go.

The nursing staff overheard my brother and mother arguing. A doctor and nurse came in and made it VERY CLEAR (and probably that loudly) that she was staying in hospital for a few days for further tests etc. My brother then apologised to Mum online for having that loud argument with Mum - because he is a good son. But he had accidentally ensured that the medical staff now were aware of the situation and Mum's unreasonable expectations of going home.

When I was seeing my mother's and brother's various messages come through depicting the scenario I saw the funny side of them both being oblivious to how everyone hears their phone conversations whether they want to or not. I laughed and coughed and laughed some more.

Then minutes later I got a message from Mum, "How are you feeling. It sounds like a nasty bug. LOL❤️"

I laughed so hard I started coughing and coughed stuff up which I have been struggling to do.

I thanked my mother for the message and said that I really appreciated her sentiments. I also gently explained what LOL means and how I had laughed at the original message. I had some trepidation at hurting her feelings so was careful with the wording and ready to phone her if she took it the wrong way. But I know my mother and thought it would be OK.

My mother replied, "I'm glad my error made you LOL".

I am feeling much better now.