Yes I said Bonnie’s labia.

Life with Bonnie since her stroke has been interesting to say the least.  Although I’ve had to bathe her at times, although I’ve had to change her diapers at times one of the things I’ve managed to avoid extra close inspection of her genitals.

There are some things that I feel should be just hers and her vagina is one of those things.  Unless she says it hurts I tend to not spend a lot of time there.

Bonnie got ill this week.  It happens to all of us, even my steel magnolia.  She’s in the hospital now diagnosis pneumonia.  She’s beyond strong and improving by the minute.  This illness hit her swiftly though.  She was fine Thursday morning.  Saturday morning when the ambulance transported her the fever was at 103.

It frightened me like it always does, but by this stage in the game, being her sole caretaker since 2008 I just roll with the punches.

One of those punches is that Bonnie is stubborn as all get out and that sometimes translates into her doing things that are not in her best interest.  At times it is her flushing her vegetables down the toilet… other times it is resisting the attempt to insert a catheter.

I understand.  I’ve had them in a few times they are not comfortable.  In her condition yesterday though she needed the device.  She managed to break the one straight catheter on the ER floor yesterday so the staff had to come back with a foley.  I walked into the room to help the staff.  I got an up close and personal view of my mother’s labia and vagina.

Sigh.

I am never going to be able to unsee that.

It’s the price I pay though and I am okay with that.

Except when it comes to know exactly what my mother’s vagina looks like.

I didn’t need to know that.

 

Aphrodite Brown