Tuesday, May 20, 2008

On to a better place

Auntie Maud had her MRI scan yesterday. It wasn't as bad as she anticipated but it did wear her out. So much so that today she was in a 'It's time for me to go home' mood. And she didn't mean her little flat.

I should have taken that as a sign and made my excuses and left. Instead we spent my visit reminiscing about all the members of our extended family that have died over the last forty years.

At one point, talking about the lady who'd been in the next bed, Auntie Maud said, 'She's gone to a higher ward.'
'Oh dear,' I said, thinking that, as this was a one storey building, it was a euphemism meaning she'd died.
'Yes, up to Ward 1 as she's going home soon.'
Course that could still mean ...

On my way there the car started slowing down. The harder I pressed the pedal, the slower it went until it stopped completely. My motto in these cases is 'Don't panic! Just because you're potentially stuck in the middle of the road in a car that won't go, is no reason to panic. Switch off and try starting again.'

Which I did and it did. And then I realised I'd had my foot on the brake instead of the accelerator.

Now me and him are going for a walk in the woods where I plan to practise screaming.

8 comments:

mdmhvonpa said...

Heh ... on the brake no less ... subliminal message?

Anonymous said...

Far too much coincidence here - just been out on trusty mob scooter and it was juddering. Pete came out to me at Sains as planned, touched a button and it's fine. At Maud sounds sensible about it all - is she? Too much illness around again.

Furtheron said...

I had to have an MRI scan a while back when I had a load of very bad vertigo attacks. Frankly I'm sure that experience just scared the problem out of me... :-) I don't envy anyone one of them, esp if your son is a Physics student and starts explaining exactly what this monumental magnet is actually doing to all the atoms in your body....

Maggie May said...

Funny about the wrong pedal!

Unknown said...

Liz, I’ve found that when we humans are reminded of our own mortality we often begin reflecting on our relatives and friends who have died. I suppose that’s our nature?

Dragonstar said...

Sounds to me as if your foot was trying to tell you something!
How did the screaming practice go?

Liz Hinds said...

No, not a subliminal message, mdm, just stupidity.

Yes, book owl, Auntie Maud is quite happy about 'going home'.

I think the thought of it would scare any problems out of me too, furtheron.

maggie may, funny but puzzling. I'm not sure how I could have managed it as the pedals feel quite different.

nick, you're probably right. Auntie Maud has a very Christian and philosophical outlook on her own death.

dragonstar, I didn't scream in the end. I just can't do it. I am a repressed little soul!

MissKris said...

I felt the same way when I came out of the doctor's on Monday and climbed slowly and painfully into my truck, only to have it "errERRReeerEEER" as I turned the key. My little reliable truck that never gives me a moment's grief! I tried again and it did the same thing...then caught and started, thank the good Lord! It hasn't done it since, but if I'd ended up sitting there stranded in the parking lot I truly WOULD have cried and screamed and come apart at the seams. It would've topped off a perfectly crummy day, ha!