Elderly parents

I suppose taking care of ageing parents is never easy, but when you live in a different country than they do, it definitely adds extra complications.

I found out a few weeks ago that my elderly mother was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia - this partially played into her decision to sell the garden. This morning I found out via a message from my brother that my Mum will need to have another test done next week to determine whether she needs a stent. I had to look up what that even meant.

Now, we don't even know for sure yet whether she will indeed need that procedure to be done, but if it does turn out to be necessary, it's my (very limited) understanding that it's a relatively routine thing and not all that scary, despite of involving the heart. However, even assuming the best possible outcome here, considering that my Mum turns 83 this year, she's still gonna have a hard time with needing this kind of surgery.

I knew immediately that if push comes to shove, I'll need to go back for a bit and look after her. I'm lucky in that being able to afford an extra trip here or there is not an issue, and that I could even continue working remotely from Austria, but it's still going to be weird and disruptive.

It just hit me that this is basically going to be my life for the near future - worrying about my mother's slowly declining health and feeling like I have to be ready to jump on a plane back to Austria on short notice. ☹