It's almost ten at night. I just took a shower and I'm lying in bed scrolling Instagram Reels. My brain feels so burned out from it (laughs). Short-form video genuinely fries my attention span. (sighs)
The dogs woke me up at six this morning. I finally rounded them up, carried them over to Mom's room, closed the door, and crashed back to sleep until nine. Woke up with a foggy headache, though — that split sleep never works out well for me. Didn't do much with the morning besides laundry and having the pad krapow my brother picked up.
Around lunchtime, my brother was hungry and had this recipe he found on TikTok for cheesy ramen boiled in milk instead of water, with cheese and meat. I wasn't even that hungry, but he asked if I wanted a bowl and made one for me too. It was actually really good. Zero vegetables, though, because neither of us felt like walking out to pick anything from the garden.
We video-called Mom so she could see the dogs. They got so lively just hearing her voice through the phone (laughs). I don't know if they truly recognize her without her scent, but dogs definitely know a voice. Mom mentioned she was craving corn som tum with salted egg from our regular spot for dinner. I promised to grab some, set a reminder on my phone for 4:00 PM, and spent the rest of the afternoon just idling around playing ROV.
When the alarm went off at four, I went out and bought a whole spread — Mom's som tum, plus extra food for myself. I headed over to the hospital and ate dinner with her. She's definitely improving, though she still has this lingering cough. While we were eating, she kept coughing and I was half-laughing, half-scared I was going to catch it from her.
We sat and talked for a while. We were hoping she could come home tomorrow, but right before I left, the nurse checked her temperature and she still had a low-grade fever, around 37.5. So we'll have to see. Dad's been back home for three or four days now, but he's coughing constantly too. I don't know when that's finally going to clear up.
I went straight home and ate a second dinner — tom saep with soft ribs and grilled pork neck that I'd bought earlier. Played some more ROV, took a shower, and now I'm just here melting into the mattress. (yawns) Life's pacing feels slow and quiet lately, just drifting along without anything loud happening.
My arm is a lot better. I decided to skip physical therapy this month because I really don't want them wrenching my arm around again. It's improving, but there's still very little strength there; I'll need to rebuild the muscle, but I want to wait until the nerve heals fully before I start clenching or straining it.
I hope tomorrow is a good day. I hope Mom gets to come home, and that everyone recovers and stays healthy. My own head feels a little heavy and feverish tonight, so I took two paracetamol tablets, and now I'm closing my eyes.