Lonely Wildflower

Hello Blogger Friends:

I apologize for my absence over the last two and a half months.  It has a been a trying time with a three-week illness for me, followed by a life-threatening illness for my 91-year-old mother.  She was hospitalized on May 4 with a bacterial infection called C. diff (Clostridium difficile), an illness which is generally caused by the good bacteria in the intestinal system being wiped out by an ingestion of antibiotics.  C. diff can be fatal if it gets a foothold in the colon.  We've all been warned about the overuse of antibiotics, and the result can be what happened to my mom.  Two weeks before developing uncontrollable diarrhea, she received a course of Cipro antibiotic for an eye infection, which evidently killed all her good bacteria and allowed the bad stuff to run rampant.  She was in the hospital for two weeks and then released to a skilled nursing facility because she was too weak to stand up.  After two days in the rehab center, she was rehospitalized for a week due to being in a near-comatose state.  As of yesterday she has returned home and is able to maneuver with a walker or a cane but will continue to be treated with physical and occupational therapy by a home health agency.  C. diff kills over 40,000 people each year in the United States, most of whom are elderly or infants.

I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me with your concerns over my absence.  I hope to be back to blogging as of now, although it probably will not be on a daily basis since my mom needs round-the-clock care.  Her mental capacity has dropped tremendously in the past few weeks and she is incapable of handling the most rudimentary tasks.  I hope to visit your blogs within the next couple of days.  Thanks for being such great friends!