mom does not have ebola

on friday evening, just after 6:30, i called my parents' house to discuss saturday plans with mom.

dad answered the phone and, when i asked for mom, he said, "she went to bed."

uh oh. being in bed by 6:30pm is generally a sign that something's up.

"is she sick?" i said.

dad went on to explain, somewhat gravely, that mom had been battling a headache all day (i'd spoken to her in the morning and, while she had a headache at the time, she had been planning on having a day out). he said she'd gone to the gym and done laundry but, by the time they sat down to dinner, her stomach was upset and she was "so weak she didn't think she'd be able to put her bedding on the bed."

i was suddenly so overcome with worry that i didn't bother chastising him for, you know, NOT HELPING HER PUT ON THE BEDDING. (honestly.) i started asking him about symptoms, but he wasn't overly helpful. did she have a fever? dunno. a cough? no. did she have to throw up? don't think so. did she say ANYTHING about anything? no.

i hung up and called trix. she lives about six minutes from my parents' house, and i thought it might be a good idea for her to head over and perhaps stay the night if she could, just in case anything happened. lord knows dad wouldn't be able to do anything but call YB, anyway, so i figured this would guarantee someone capable was on hand, if needed.

when i spoke to trix, she was already one step ahead -- she'd talked to our dad just before i had, and she'd already been thinking that she should stay over at their place as a precaution. i was relieved, and i asked her to call me in the morning to update me on mom's condition.

that night, i worried. mom's fairly hardy, so having her be too weak to eat or dress a bed was extremely unusual. i went to bed and my mind raced -- i envisioned trix calling me in the middle of the night to say she was taking mom to the hospital. all sorts of conditions ran through my head: migraine, aneurysm, flu, brain tumour, you name it. my sleep was fitful and, when i eventually got up at 7am on saturday morning, i wondered how early would be too early to call the house.

thankfully, trix called me just after 8am. i picked up the phone, said hello and, in a very cheerful voice, trix said, "hi! it's me. mom's fine."

seems the ACTUAL story of what happened was: after shuttling dad to the dentist in the morning, mom hadn't had time to have a proper lunch before going to the gym (all she had was a yogurt and a granola bar). so, by the time she finished her workout, she was light-headed. when she took a shower, she got some water in her ear, so she was feeling a little dizzy and, as a result, didn't feel much like eating dinner. so she decided to go to bed to sleep it all off. by saturday morning, everything was fine and mom realized she'd just been dehydrated and lacking sufficient calories.

"i spent the whole night worrying!" i said.

"i know, me too. i thought i might have to take her to the hospital or something!" said YB.

"that's exactly what *i* thought! i can't believe dad would make it sound like she had malaria! so, does she still have a headache?"

"nope!"

"and she feels better?"

"yep!"

"thank goodness."

and, really, i suppose i shouldn't have been surprised that dad managed to get the details wrong and blow everything out of proportion. remember when this happened?

yeah.

fin.