The Health Situation

Originally, the idea was to blog sporadically: keep an update on living with the aged.  However, it has dawned on me that the constant worry of my mother-in-law dying would probably be a good thing to discuss.  It is a fear and inevitable reality.  The matriarch will die and she will die soon, be it this year or next.  But, then, not one of us knows our expiration date and we all have one.  It is an odd situation.  We make plans for lunch at The Mandarin on Wednesday, but none of the children wake her in the morning.  In case...
My mother-in-law's worse health concern is her blindness in one eye.  She had herpes of the eye this past spring and, to be extremely clear, it is a painful condition and I thought she would die of the pain.  At one point, she gave up eating and drinking and I practically had a nervous breakdown discussing the situation with a tele-health nurse.  To everyone's amazement, most of all the doctor's, my mother-in-law recovered her health but lost the sight in the right eye.  So, every morning and evening, there are drops to keep the eye moist and prevent calcium build-up.  Really, it is not that bad.
There is a more aesthetic health concern with my mother-in-law's teeth; she has none.  Eating with her can be an experience.  Worse, she loves corn and it is not pleasant.  But at 98, what, really, can the family suggest?  The middle child sits across from her and refuses to change places with any siblings; this way only one person has to appreciate Grandma's culinary appetites.  The mother-in-law also spits out food, usually into her hand, and then she puts the remnants onto her plate.  Sadly, this seems to be a familiar situation with the elderly; although, I think my mother-in-law has sensitive gums and is too proud to give up eating solids.  One forgets that even at 98, there is a self with an ego; if no one ages in their own thoughts, it must be horrible to be as old as she is and still feel, in her head, that she is only 17.