Who Cares What Nansi Thinks?

My mom has completed her cataract surgeries. I would say it was a success. We are having a complication, so it's not yet a complete success, but I feel sure things will work out.

Ten days after the second surgery, I went to pick her up to be fitted for new eye glasses. She was bitterly complaining that the surgery didn't work. Her eyes were worse than ever. (She said this while wearing her glasses. Glasses prescribed before the surgery.)

The doctor required that I be present during the exam. I was amazed at how well she was seeing without any glasses. The doctor said her vision had an 80% improvement as a result of the surgery. EIGHTY PER CENT! She's actually able to read large print without any correction at all. No WONDER she couldn't see with her old glasses!!! The doctor advised me to take her glasses away from her and get her some readers from the drug store until the new glasses can be made. She so accustomed to having glasses on her face that she won't go without. The old lenses are massively too strong.

Her newly improved vision has been (at the risk of throwing out a shameless pun) a real eye opener for her. She's taking more pride in her appearance and is even more critical about the appearance of others! :-)

So now that Mom's vision is restored, she's full of vim and vigor. She announced that the nursing home is holding a Senior Prom. (Please shoot me.) She wants to make herself a dress. Mom can't sew anymore. It's not her vision that prevents her from sewing. She lacks the ability to organize the project. After the first stroke, she became unable to lay a pattern out. She'd spend hours trying to figure out where the pieces go.

When she went into the nursing home, after the third stroke, I got rid of her machines. Somebody at the nursing home brought her a sewing machine. It became a MAJOR source of frustration for her. She couldn't figure out how to get it threaded and would call Sears over and over. The local Sears store actually blocked her cell phone number because of all the phone calls. When they moved Mom to the renovated wing, someone knocked the machine over and broke it to smithereens. (And I didn't even have to pay a BRIBE!)

Now she's fixated on sewing again. For the past decade or so, sewing to my mother has not been about making actual garments. It's been about acquiring fabric and patterns and stacking them in every corner of her house. I did manage to salvage some of Mom's fabric, but most of it was full of bugs.

Mom was a fabulous seamstress. I remember a gorgeous gown she made for my sister. You'd never know it was home made. It was the prettiest pink and white. She looked like a princess in it.

The thing my mother created MOST successfully was to turn ME into a total clothing addict. After my siblings were married and gone, Mom would make me a new outfit every week. It was a rare day when I didn't just LOVE what she made for me. She made my bridesmaids dresses. They were so gorgeous! They appeared in at least two other weddings besides mine!

I miss my mom's sewing days. Believe me, it hurts to be the one who has to keep telling her "no" to the sewing. It's another aspect of the role reversal that parents and children experience as time goes by. On the way home from the doctor's office the other day, I actually caught myself putting my arm across my mother's check when I had to slam on my brakes.