So the last time I wrote about what happened with my mum I ended up being in Munduberra with my two sisters on our way to Charters Towers.
I don't think any of us slept well the night night before we left - I couldn't stop thinking not only about my husband driving all the way back to Brisbane but also what was going on with my mum. I didn't know how serious this all was, what was going to happen to my mum.
Well about 6am on the Sunday morning (11 July 2010) my sisters - Kirsty, Amy and I set off to find answers and give support to my mum and dad. I was camped out in the back seat and Kirsty and Amy took it in turns to drive. I hate driving but reassured both of them that if all of their arms fell off, I would drive!
It was a 10 hour drive filled with laughter (it is a Tyson coping mechanism), many tears, talk about what was happening, what would happen with our mum - I believe I also did an amazing rendition of "way out west" at a service station in the middle of nowhere, I may have embarrassed my sisters just a little bit.
After a long journey we finally managed to make our way to Charters Towers - admittedly it took us awhile to find mum and dads place - how you get lost in Charters Towers I don't know but we managed it (to call would have totally ruined any surprise and we learnt the art of surprise from our mum) - but we did get there eventually.
We pulled
up out the front of the house and walked around the side towards the back, as we got to the back of the house dad was walking around the corner (to go feed the next door neighbours cat). I remember seeing the look of absolute shock and disbelief on his face, then him breaking down in tears - I think this was the first time I had ever really seen my dad really cry - he asked what we were doing here and we all responded that we had to be there. He pointed us to the back door and said mums inside.I remember walking in the back door and seeing my mummy on the recliner looking so sick and her belly being so swollen. It took her a second or two but then she realised what was going on. She asked us what we were doing there but was happy to see us. We sat and talked for a while.
After a while, even in her unwell state, mum got up to show us around her new home - she took us on a tour of the yard - she walked so slowly and with such pain but still wanted to show off her place. She told us all about her neighbours and how lovely they were.
That afternoon I went with dad to take Molly for a walk. Kirsty and Amy stayed and spoke with mum. Dad was so happy we were there and so relieved to have us there. He said that he could tell she had picked up a bit just by seeing us. I remember having a talk with him about the prognosis (I was still so unsure of where things stood). He said it didn't look too good and hopefully we would have some answers in the coming days but he wanted to get mum down to Brisbane as soon as possible for treatment which meant they would be moving in with S
hane and I for a while - I was happy to do what we could to help. The one thing I really remember was dad saying to me that the one thing mum hated the thought of was not meeting all her grandchildren or Amy's future husband.When he said those words to me, it started to sink in the severity of the situation but it still had not completely sunk in. All I could think was my mum is a fighter, she will be fine and I honestly believed that for the next two and a half weeks right up until two hours before she passed away.
