Changes..

One day, I had come home from a very late shift. Back then, I worked in a supermarket doing very late hours and although it was a full-time job I hardly had any time for myself or socialised. But I had to take the job as I had no other choice, and Mum wanted me to just take it until something better came along. I had been working there for almost two years at the time. It was hard work but it kept me fit and I made a good bunch of friends too.

Dinner was ready for me to eat and while it was heating up, Mum came into the kitchen and asked how my day went. ‘ It was fine, just knackered’, I replied. She was telling me that she walked the dog in the morning and didn’t realise that a small tree was in front of her on the pathway that she knocked into it and banged her head. She couldn’t understand why she didn’t see it. I suggested that maybe she was just thinking in her own little world and completely zoned out. ‘Mum, don’t worry about it, maybe you’re just exhausted. You’re out with that dog non-stop, just have a rest!’ I said. We just forgot about it and the three of us watched the daily soap dramas.

A few weeks went by as usual and one night, Mum had just finished her dinner. She suddenly let out a huge deep sounding burp. We giggled like crazy. ‘Jeez, Mum!’ Max laughed. ‘What the hell did you eat today?’ Not much at all’,she replied. Then she got up off her chair and went to get an indigestion tablet.

So, more time went by and when I had come home from wherever I had been, Mum was complaining about her indigestion and feeling very bloated and also having trapped wind. ‘I don’t know what it is Kate, cos I’ve hardly eaten much..just that muesli for breakfast and a few biscuits, and maybe a bit of chocolate, but that’s it’. It didn’t really worry me much but I did say that she should get it checked as it might be a slight intolerance to something. ‘ Mum, that’s terrible. You need to eat more than that’, I replied with slight concern.

She had got some more indigestion tablets and booked an appointment to the doctors. They said it was probably a slight gluten intolerance and perhaps to avoid it for a little while. This was confusing as we’d always eaten breads, pastas and other things and it’s never been a problem at all. So we just took it on board and let Mum do a bit of shopping for herself to see what else she could eat instead. Later on over the next couple of months, she was sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of tea. When I walked in, I noticed her rubbing her stomach quite frequently. Is that trapped wind, Mum?’ I asked. She had been doing this for the last few days which was unusual. ‘It hurts on my left side, like dull aches. It doesn’t seem to be shifting’. I just looked at her and wondered to myself, ‘What could it be?’

To be continued..