When I was in high school, our French teacher had this very bouncy way of saying "OK", and we, being the charming students that we were picked up on it and adopted it. You could say mocked, or mimicked. I prefer to think it was an homage. One day, she heard one of us saying it and asked why we kept saying "hiccup" in French.
Turns out that the French for hiccups is les hoquets and the H is silent. It's got a similar onomatopoeia to the English equivalent, and I often think of this when I hear someone say OK.
Because it's a word that doesn't just come up in High School foreign language vocab lessons. I can "tête, epaules, genoux, et pieds" (head, shoulders, knees and toes) with the best of them - I know how to name everything in the classroom, and some day, I'm going to perform geriatric burlesque under the name Aucoin DeLaRue. I digress.
K, so...
Mere moments after I published my last post, I got the call that they needed to take Mom to the ER because they were concerned with her lungs. Well, she has lung disease, so sure. I high tailed it down to Atlanta quickly. I got there a little after 8:30, local time. She was still cold chilling in the ER exam room. They had done all sorts of blood work, scans, etc - and had decided they would admit her. Since they wouldn't let me and her boyfriend both be in the ER, he bowed out and I stepped in. We finally got her to a room around 10:30, and after signing a bunch of paperwork, I drove to her house, and spent several hours looking through some of her jewelry and doomscrolling on my phone.
The next morning, I was in her room right after visiting hours started (9AM). We waited and met with all sorts of people, all of whom I told that I wanted Mom to be discharged if at all possible before the weekend because nothing happens on the weekend. We waited until nearly 2:30 for the pulmonologist and then the hospitalist came in and said she was dealing with an emergency and wouldn't be coming by. I lost my shit and somehow, they got her to come up. Where she told me she had already been by at 7:30AM that morning and signed off on my mother's discharge. I apologized and explained that my mother was unable to retain information, and that the hospitalist had not told me that she'd already been there either - and that, for what it's worth, any care my mother received in the room without me, basically didn't happen. I was profusely apologetic, found out that she had gone to med school at Vanderbilt and understood that we're in a precarious holding pattern.
So, long story boring, there was nothing new wrong with Mom. PT thinks she should use a walker for ambulation. Pulmonology wants her on oxygen full time. I am working to ensure that both happen. I can put the tools into place - I cannot make her use them, unless I am actively with her forcing the issue.
Anyway - that night, I fixed her a nice dinner of Publix takeout. Thanks, Publix! Her boyfriend came over and they had dessert and we talked about all kinds of things.
The next morning, I took Mom out to breakfast and for a little shopping trip. She ate her whole breakfast, a small lunch and a good dinner that night. I actually cooked that night - porkchops, coleslaw and corn. YUM. I also made a little banana bread with overripe bananas.
And then Sunday, I hauled ass and went home. I had a Wedding Shower to go to. It was lovely. We were asked to wear shades of pink. I don't have any pink that is dressy enough, so I purchased a dress from Amazon. It's not especially fancy, but it was OK. I wish I'd gone a little bigger, though. Because some of the things other women had on were fabulous. It's weird. I overdressed for the wedding last weekend, underdressed for the wedding shower this weekend.
Some day, I might get it right.
Anyway, even though there was a hoquet in the middle my Thursday, everything turned out OK.
ae
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