A Visit with my mother

It was so cold this morning as I drove to church.  Someone said the temperature was 8 degrees Farenheit!  It was cold to the bone!  After church, I visited my mother.  I was initially surprised at the quietness of her room--no beeping monitors.  When my husband is in the hospital, the monitors beep away.  I helped her eat breakfast and asked the nurse for some pain medicine for her knee.  I suspect lying in bed and the contorted position of her leg is causing her pain.  I stayed until  I had to leave to open the store.  I  kept busy with customers and clean up...50 or so vases to wash.  It's good to have something to do.  It keeps my thoughts at bay.  My dad stopped by to tell me he had visited the nursing facility.  He looks tired, so I am glad I get off early afternoon tomorrow and finally, after the long Valentine week, have two days off.   I can visit with my mother so that my dad can have some time for himself.   And then a bit of pampering for me--hair dyed and cut, brows, mustache, chin hair waxed.  The sun was out and it was a fine day for a drive.    I was careful with my comments as my sister and my hairdresser are best friends.  So at first it was amusing to see how we avoided the elephant in the room.  Finally she initiated the conversation with "I'm sorry you're mother is in the hospital."    That is not what the sorrow is about.  The sorry is that a couple that has been together 65 years is now separated, my mother is in hospice care, my dad looks like he's aged 10 years in a week.  She also went on to say how my father can't take care of my mother any more.  Interesting, because this is not the issue.  The issue is pain management which we cannot seem to manage, but then again, neither can the hospital.    My father has said several times that he doesn't want her sleeping all the time, and the morphine knocks her out.  However he did say that they were trying a pain patch on her knee.