Night Shift

My mother is 24 hours post-op from double bypass surgery.
As she recovers in the ICU, I pull the Night Shift. After a day of running the kids all over, planning and packing for our vacation, and the regular "Mom" stuff, I am happy to settle in and enjoy the quiet that comes only with keeping company the critically ill.
Someone put bright red socks on my mother's feet, but left them with floppy toes. First thing we did was pull them the rest of the way up.


My mother has been given a teddy bear named Sir Cough-a-lot, to encourage her to cough. Because she is five?
Why does a 59 yr old woman need a stuffed animal?
It's just something the kids will fight over later, when she brings it home.


She has a bed that beats the shit out of her on a regular basis, and you don't even have to put quarters in it.
She is hooked up to all the machines that go "Ping!":






She has some sort of high-tech chest drain bong that sounds like a fish aquarium all the time.


She keeps asking if someone is taking a shower, or if it's raining outside.
The sound of the machine makes her feel as if she has to pee, even though she is catheterized.

The tv is on all the time, as she fades in and out. If I turn it off, in the name of peace and quiet, she wakes up and asks me to turn it back on, because her show is coming on.
Apparently her show is titled "Television".