Changes (part 2)

Max and I told mum to just take some painkillers and after a couple of hours, the pain eased a little. It could have been anything. I thought of all possible minor causes; she could have simply pulled a muscle or had a trapped nerve. I know that trapped nerves take ages to get better – maybe that’s more likely what it could be. So we just carried on with the day as usual.

I had a day off work and decided to have very chilled day. I switched on the computer and did my own thing, such as play one of my games which I could play ‘religiously’ for hours and there were times mum used to moan at me for being on it too long. While I was playing it, Mum walked in and asked me, ‘Kate love, What is nine and a half stones in kilograms? ‘Umm..let me check’. I typed in and it was roughly 60 kilograms. ‘Why?’ I asked. She looked at me with a confused expression. ‘I have lost nearly half a stone!’ She said it has only been less than a week. I looked at her and frowned slightly. ‘That is a bit strange, are you sure that’s right?’ We went to check the scales. Mum didn’t need to weigh herself. She was slim and yes, she had a bit of a tummy but it was hardly noticable anyway. She only did weigh herself when she was having a guilty week of chocolate and biscuits – especially Christmas time, and would jump on the scale and joke to us that she was cutting down from the next week (as we all do as times haha!).

‘Perhaps the scales are wrong’, I suggested. ‘They’re not that accurate, Mum’. Max was watching telly and also came into the bathroom to listen. ‘You alright, Mum?’ He asked. ‘Max, I am 10 stone usually, and it says I’m now 9.5 and it’s only been less than a week and I’ve only just recently weighed myself’. Max shook his head. ‘God knows, Mum.. just see what the doctors say’. ‘Ugh! I’m not going to the doctors again. I’ll ‘Google’ it’. ‘No Mum!’ I began to argue. Please don’t Google things.. you’ll drive yourself mad with worry. She still didn’t listen to me and hopped on the seat and began browsing for possible answers. She spent a good couple of hours on there and it was beginning to really frustrate me. I walked in a few times to see if she had managed to find anything interesting and when she came across some online forums, she read them aloud to me. ‘For God’s sake, Mum! It could be anything. Please get off it’. ‘Okay, fine!’ She snapped at me. She could be so stubborn at times.

When she finally came into the living room with us later that evening, she sat down and looked very deep in thought. I turned to look at her ‘I’m sorry Mum, I said. ‘I just don’t want you to start worrying and looking at things on the Internet. It will make it seem like it’s something even more serious. Max looked at me. ‘She’s right, Mum. People are hypochondriacs on there, it’s not a good idea’. She looked at both of us and nodded gently . ‘OK, love. I’ll give the doctors a call in the morning’.

It was probably nothing. Only time will tell…