Mom wasted absolutely no time to show me what it’s like to be here full time.

Around midnight last night, I was one of the 4-woman team to carry mom in a wheelchair down our steps to get her in the car and go to the ER.

Mom was having difficulty breathing. She was taking shallow breathes and making a lot of gurgle-ly noise. Gob, the caregiver, got my dad and off we went to BNH Hospital aka Nursing Home aka possibly the most expensive private hospital in the country.

It was like checking in to the Ritz Carlton of hospitals. But anyways.

They are keeping her for observation at least until tomorrow when her oncologist is in the office. If it’s going to be something more than that, we’ll have to transfer mom to the government hospital across the way where she had her long term care earlier. At $200 a night, not including medication or doctor’s fees, it’s pretty fucking steep for Thai medical care.

What happened is that earlier yesterday, mom choked on her saliva and returned the homemade blend of veggies and broth they poured into her for lunch. Linda Blair ain’t got nuttin’ on my mom there. There was a chance that some of the food could have gone down her lung and could be infected. That was why at the first sign of her wheezing/gurgling, we rushed her to the doctor.

So far, the lung seems clear but just in case, they put her on some antibiotics drip already. She still makes the noises and breathing shallow occasionally but it was mostly because she was phlegm-y. If she manages to clear her own throat, that seems to do the trick. Occasionally, the nurse has to come in and use the suction on her which she totally hates. Last night, she wouldn’t open her mouth so they had to force her.

Much fun thus far.

Mom utters no more than 5 words a day. When she’s “conscious”, she still has her spunk. But when she’s zoned out, she’s out pretty good.

As you know, she has stopped swallowing and spitting on her own. She’d try to swallow sometimes and occasionally will choke like yesterday. She stopped talking altogether but if she’s “here”, she totally understands everything. Pretty much her left side at this moment is completely useless. The right she can still squeeze your hand here and there.

When she’s “here”. Which is not all that much these days.

Like this morning, my brother and I went to take care of some business first. We didn’t get to visit until later. Her friends were already there. Aunty Sida asked mom if she wanted her to hit us as a punishment.

She nodded.

“Which one should I hit? Oakley or Onk?”

Mom slowly raised her hand at Onk. The usual suspect.

“Is that for today or for being out drinking last night? For drinking last night?” I asked.

Mom nodded again.

Well, heck. The dude came in from the night of drinking with his friends to the ER, smelling like cigarettes. Mom never likes that.

So yea, we had our moments here and there. But most of the day, mom watches Animal Planet, her favorite channel, and, of course, Academy Fantasia live feed. All day long.

Actually, tonight she was trying to stay up to watch the performance show. LOL. At least that is what we think she is doing.

So, there you go kids. An update from this side of town. I have other fun nuggets to share with you guys but I’m super sleepy at the moment.

Oh yes. The sinus infection is going away. It’s hot has hell over here and rain a lot. It doesn’t bother me as much just yet as I seem to be shuttling in and out of air conditioned room most of the day.

God. I love it when it rains here. The toads and frogs are making all of these noises outside. Miss that.

Good night gang. I’ll update again soon.