Say no to something you routinely say yes to..... This week was not a routine one for me but not necessarily out of choice. Mam was having her eye operation on Tuesday and was hugely anxious and not herself at all. I’d already booked Tuesday off to take her. To cut a long story short this routine operation was very traumatic for my 89 year old Mam. She seemed to revert into a child and I was feeling very much out of my depth. So in a nutshell I had to say no to work as there was no way I could leave her alone after the operation. The operation had aggravated another condition, her life force was so low and I was very worried indeed. I stayed with her for 48 hours and did the best I could to help her. My three sisters helped too and somehow we got through the week. It’s not easy when there are so many strong females involved. It’s scary when the one person who is always ok and there for you isn’t ok anymore. After the weekend she improved a lot and last week she even wanted me to take her for lunch and bought a new outfit from her favourite boutique something I couldn’t have imagined the week before. I washed and styled her hair and I could see her spirit returning. I feel a lot of guilt about not doing enough for my Mam but after a long afternoon with my sister waiting for the ward to release Mam, we had numerous coffees and spent more time together than we had in a while I decided to listen to her wisdom and say no to guilt too. It doesn’t help anyone.