Laughing in the Face of Death!

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The idea for this post was inspired nicked from New Mummy’s recent post 5 Reasons I’m Going to Hell, which is all about laughing when you really shouldn’t.  Lately, I’ve been finding myself doing this more and more.  As most of you are aware my 87 year old father in law is terminally ill.  My husband is an only child so we’ve had to relocate his father to a palliative care ward near us and have also moved his mother nearby as she needs constant care.  To be honest this hasn’t been much fun at all.  However, I’ve found myself in fits of giggles on several occasions.

During the first bank holiday in May we were beckoned to their house in Sussex by the district nurse as father in law had deteriorated.  We spent the better part of the day both in their house and at the hospital watching him sleep, focussing on his chest going up and down, up and down and up and down, waiting for it to stop.  Then all of a sudden he bolted upright!  I nearly sh*t myself and it took me all of my powers and a stern inner dialogue to not laugh out loud.  Thank goodness I have twitter on my phone.

At one point during the day, it was suggested that I transport father in law in the car to the palliative care ward which would take a minimum of 2 hours and would involve the M25.  The district nurse had a quiet word with me and said there was a very good chance he could die in the car.  I couldn’t get the film Weekend at Bernie’s out of my head.  I had visions being stuck in the M25 road works with a dead guy in the car!  Could you imagine???

Moving my mother in law has proved the most challenging but humorous at times.  We’ve set her up in a lovely two bedroom flat that is bigger than our house.  We had Virgin TV installed and the remote equates to quantum physics for her.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone the other night trying to explain how to turn it to BBC 1 for the Chelsea Flower Show.  But, the funniest thing was when we got a panic call from her and hubby had to fly over as she’d managed to get it on a paid porn channel or so she claims.  It nearly killed the old bird.

And finally last night, my mother in law has been poorly (dicky tummy) and she has fairly strange toilet habits in the fact she will never turn the light on and always goes in complete darkness.  Unfortunately, she didn’t see that the toilet seat had been left up and sploosh!

In my defence, I think my sense of humour is the only thing that is keeping me relatively sane!

Author: mediocremum

A slightly older mum of one, who drinks far too much red wine and has an unhealthy obsession with her slow cooker. During the day she's an ICT Trainer, Social Media/Online Marketing consultant and does a bit of public speaking. Full Profile on Google+

22 thoughts on “Laughing in the Face of Death!”

  1. Oh hun you've certainly made me smile and giggle! I'm like you, always laughing at inappropriate times. My mates hate me for it! It sometimes makes teh tough times easier to bear though doesnt it! x

  2. I find that the worst things are the ones that make me laugh the most. When I was seriously ill, I laught a lot in the face of death – it was my way of handling it. You are doing a swell job

  3. I did laugh when I read this, you tell it so well, in a difficult situation, you need something to keep you going, keep going as you are as you will need anything to keep your energy up, keep strong, thinking of you all xx

  4. I did have a little chuckle to myself as I was reading this. I think your sense of humour is your mechanism for dealing with this difficult situation. Don't ever lose it….as you said yourself, it's probably keeping you sane at the moment. Thinking of you all x

  5. Oh dear :-s have to admit I had a little giggle too!
    I know its a difficult time for you so just wanted to send hugs xxxx

  6. I had a real laugh at your expense, sorry! Though I do appreciate how difficult this is, it's also really important to keep your sense of humour. I think we share the same sense of humour, mine's very droll too. The last time my mother stayed with us we managed to keep her on the straight and narrow by mixing increasingly strong g&t's. Kept everyone happY!

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