4:30 PM.  Don't have much homework.  Decide to visit my mom.  But first, I'm going to call my dad to let him know I won't be there when he comes home from work.  This requires turning on my cellular telephone.

I have three new voicemails.  I know one of the first one, which I got yesterday, is from Sean and Ella and it says something about "Hey, where are you?  We're waiting on you."

Surprise!  No it's not.  Instead, it is my mother's husband.  [Probably called shortly after I got to school yesterday.]

"Hey Sarah, it's Tully.  I just wanted to let you know that your mom's in the hospital.  She's fine, she just had a mild stroke.  She's in room number blah blah and you can reach her by dialing such-and-such number.  She's fine.  She's walking and talking; they just want to keep her for some tests...."

My mouth falls open.  I stare at my phone, thinking it lies to me.  Then, in a moment of hating myself and feeling like the worst daughter in the history of the universe, I let slip a bad word.  I'll give you a hint.

It starts with 'f.'

And ends with 'uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.'

Message number two: from my grandmother.  I have a dentist appointment tomorrow after school.  Message number three: also my grandmother.  I'm supposed to call her as soon as I get it [Tully told her he hadn't been able to reach me.]

So I call my grandmother, confirm my dentist appointment and make sure all my info on mom is up to date.  Then I call Vanderbilt Medical Center and ask to be connected to my mamoo's room.

I was about to go steal my dad's car and drive up to Vanderbilt and stay until they were absolutely sure that everything was fine and dandy and they were ready to release her.  But I was a little late.  By the time I called her they said, "Eat something, sign an assload of paperwork, and then you're free to go."

She got a little woozy by the time she got to M'boro, so I met her just off of 840, got her some dinner, and took her the rest of the way home.  She was kind of tired and didn't want to stay up very long, but I don't blame her.

So the verdict is that she had two itty-bitty-teeny-tiny strokes, one right after the other.  There doesn't appear to be any permanent brain or nerve damage [beyond damage caused by previous illnesses or bouts of comatose-ness].  So she's fine.  She's exhausted, but she should be back to normal in the next few days.

. . . . . . . Doesn't change the fact that I feel like the world's worst daughter for leaving my mom in a hospital by herself for two days when she'd had two strokes.  She hates hospitals by the way, especially staying there alone overnight.  She's not mad at me, though.  So I guess it's all good.

--Oh yes.  Special thank you to anyone who left me a random comment on the last entry.  ^_^