12 cups of Jello® are cooling in the frig, tonight.
    Mom has always liked Jello®, so when I told her the only flavors we could have were lemon and lime her response was, "Mmmmm". Something tells me, though, even a confirmed Jello® fan can get tired of Jello® pretty quickly when that's the only solid food allowed her.
    Me, well, Jello® has never been one of my favorites and my least favorite Jello®s (Jello®es?, who knows? How many people regularly eat enough Jello® to pluralize it?!?) are lemon and lime, naturally. I looked for White Grape and Cranberry. I thought I remembered seeing those flavors in the last few years but went to four different grocery stores and turned up none. One store, Bashas, a local chain, had "Mystery Jello®" (I swear this is true), a genuine Jello® product packaged in a box that looks as though it was designed for Toddler's Mardi Gras. It was on sale with a sign saying "discontinued" (I wonder why????) and it occurred to me it might be worth a try, especially on the day before a colonoscopy, but, wouldn't you know it, it had Red 40 dye in it, a no-no before a colonoscopy, as its residue can be mistaken for blood.
    I made four cups of lemon Jello® with orange carbonated water, four cups of lemon Jello® with white grape juice (that should taste plenty weird, in case either of us begins to pine for Mystery Jello®) and four cups of lime Jello® with orange carbonated water.
    I'm most looking forward to the broth; I plan to add basil, maybe oregano, I've got some thyme and fennel seeds and some sage, so that should be savory. I'm also looking forward to the clear liquid fast, especially since it's summer and it's been very hot and humid, here, even inside our house. I know, though, at some time during the day, probably more than once, Mom will automatically head to the refrigerator for cheese or look for the can of nuts. I'm going to have to be on guard all day. I can't simply allow her to sleep through it. She'll need the nutrition, the hydration and the added metabolic boost and energy that moving around a little provides for The Cleansing, which will begin at 4 p.m.
    Since I will be home all day tomorrow, I may do some updating, of sorts, here. I started a post about "Doctors and Patience" and realized it would make a better essay, so that's being polished. Maybe I can get it posted tomorrow in the Essays section.
    My mother has had a good day, today, in the less lethargic levels of 'slow'. It's been relatively exciting for her...the water was out unexpectedly for a few hours, then the battery died in one of the cars and today was a hair day. She was pink tonight, quick witted and her feet were only suffering normal been-on-her-feet swelling; her belly, none. She's remembered, all day, about the colonoscopy but is still a little confused about tomorrow. She thinks the procedure is happening tomorrow. I've been talking about it a lot over the last four days or so, just to get her used to the idea. I mentioned, as well, to MPS today that, if all goes well (possibly even if it doesn't), I expect Mom to forget the procedure within a day or two of having had it. I'm expecting tomorrow to be an intense but up day. I'm not feeling completely confident about the colonoscopy and I am downright scared about the possibilities of dangerous levels of dehydration, not to mention discomfort, during the latter part of The Cleansing. But the part of tomorrow before the laxatives start phosphorescing down my mother's pipes, I think, will be a good day.
- posted by gail rae @ 23:40   email...this post