Sorry it has been so long since I posted. Here is a catch up, of sorts.

On the 30th of November mum came home from work early, looking and feeling very ill. She had suffered some pain, and went straight to bed. She said the pain had gotten so bad she had vomitted. A few hours later she woke up, very cold and slightly incoherent. We took her to our local GP, who then recommended we take her straight to the emergency room. They began tests on her, but ultimately sent her home, saying she had an infection they could not locate. At about 4am on the 1st of December I was woken by the sound of my mother screaming. My sister and I snapped awake and we drove mum to the emergency room. She was delirious and had no idea where she was or who we were. She couldn't breathe. I stayed with her in the emergency unit while she was pumped full of various liquids and they did more tests on her. The doctor, who was completely incompetent, kept pumping her full of fluids, as he said this is how to get blood pressure up, and her blood pressure was dangerously low. Several near fatal mistakes later, he located the infection at her kidney, and she was sent to a private hospital for emergency surgery. She could not breathe, and she had become delirious, because she was filled so full of liquids that she was essentially drowning from the inside out. I took the week off work and kept near mum as much as possible.

Hello, can we say malpractise? I think we can. My mother is a very highly trained and experienced nurse, having worked through many departments and with certifications coming out her arse. She was half out of her mind and completely septic, and she knew this doctor had no idea what he was doing.

What had happened was that my mother had a kidney stone. Due to the medication she takes for her arthritis, she had no idea that anything was wrong with her kidney. Eventually, the kidney stone calcified further until it eventually blocked one of the major passages to her kidney, causing it to fail. The doctors said had it been left a few hours longer she would have died. Luckily my mother is a strong old bird, and she wasn't having any of that. Interestingly enough, my mother's arthritis has been 99% alleviated, and is only left with a bit of a click in her knee (which she is having surgery to repair in the coming weeks).

Without a doubt, the worst week of my life. Not many people know how close I am to my mother. Just seeing her come out of surgery made me cry like I haven't since I was a child. I knew in the pit of my stomach she would be well again, but seeing your mother unable to recognise you or walk, and vomiting on herself telling you she is going to die, is a very frightening thing.

With all that has happened - my mother's illness, Christmas, finishing uni and starting ajob, I have completely run myself into the ground. I'm staying home at the moment with a nasty case of bronchitis, tonsilitis and sinusitis. YES, I am a walking infection. The doctor told me today that I am just completely exhausted - both mentally and physically - and I need to rest more than anything. I didn't need a doctor to tell me that I just need a holiday: I haven't had one in a year, and with my second degree to begin in March, I don't know if I should just let the job go and relax. It's not worth all this. And money bores me to tears.