Bitterness alert- read at your own risk

I have been informed that I am basically a positive person until it comes to the news and Mama.

I have been informed this by my husband.

I admit that I do tend to rant and rail about the crap that passes for news, especially TV news. I tend to avoid the news entirely unless my hubby is home. Avoid, hell, I NEVER watch the news unless he is home, so I think his judgment that I am negative about it is a bit skewed. I'm not negative about it as long as it's not on.

And I don't think I am negative about Mama, either. I think I am reasonably frustrated and a tad resentful, but also I think there is good cause. Mama is a rip-snorter and can turn ANY situation into a no-win one. Dave grew up with the woman, so he knows this. He just doesn't want to hear about it anymore. Period. He wants to abdicate, and resents it when I object to being the abdicatee.

Case in point coming up.

The plans were these:
April 22- May 16: Dave traveling to San Diego, and then to Brisbane.
May 6 - May 16: Kate traveling to Michigan to visit her dad and sister

And then this happened: Mama was rushed to the hospital where it took three days for the doctors to come up with a diagnosis that explained the symptoms that weren't patently faked. (The faked symptoms included laughably sham seizures and phony faints.) The real symptoms seemed indicative of some type of CVA- a micro stroke, or TIA, perhaps.

Tests have since shown an 80% blockage in her carotid artery. This is serious, and some plan of action on how to proceed needs to be formulated. That plan of action may or may not include surgery. It may or may not include admitting her to a nursing home. It may or may not include Mama coming home but needing constant supervision.

In the meantime, someone needs to visit her daily to keep her company, to keep her spirits up and to make sure she is being cared for properly. Someone will have to help her deal with whatever changes to her life are on the horizon, and comfort her if she does not get to come back to the home she wants to return to RIGHT NOW! Should they segue her to a nursing home, someone will have to help her adjust to a new environment and assure her that she is still loved and isn't being abandoned. Someone will also have to handle the logistics, the paperwork, the arrangements, and the business of caring for a sick, elderly person.

So...
The new plans are these:
April 22- May 16: Dave traveling to San Diego, then to Brisbane.
May 6 - May 16: Kate probably not going anywhere.

I know Dave's company is at a critical nexus right now. I know his job requires him to travel long distances all too frequently, and that no one, right now, can do what he does. But apparently, on the home front, no one can do what I do, whether I want to do it or not. It is getting harder and harder, even more so than when our children were young and I was a stay-at-home Mom, to carve out a bit of a life of my own.

For some reason, I feel a little negative about that.