Waiting for God *

Well, things have totally gone to shit here. My aunt is on the decline, quickly; she's uncomfortable and unable to sit still. Mom is here, retired GP, so she's in charge of drugs and medicine. I'm ok, as I've gone from Team Manager to Bat Boy (Bat Girl? nana nana nana nana Bat Girl!!) I fetch tea, do laundry, help with clothing selection, and was nearly drafted for silver polishing, although managed to get out of that.
My aunt is still giving us a few laughs, sometimes. (When she's not scaring the crap out of us because she decided to look out the window at 2 AM, fell, and couldn't get up. Mom came and woke me so I could lift her up and back into bed. We think she was wondering if it was a blue sky day?)
My aunt really rallies when she thinks she could be helpful. Whenever a doctor or nurse comes to visit, she's still telling them there's nothing wrong, and that she doesn't need us to stay and look after her. "I'm fine, nothing wrong with me" and then she's in pain, won't eat or drink, can't sit still or lie down for any amount of time. She has decided she needs to get more exercise too, and wants to walk up and down the halls in the apartment building. So I compromise with her, and start with walking to the living room from the bedroom. That's a pretty good workout for her. Sometimes she needs a rest part way.
But anyway....the nurse was here the other day, and as usual this powered my aunt to sit up and be as strong as possible. She was giving useful tips to the nurse such as, "If you have someone who doesn't want to eat, just try putting, what do you call it?, salt and pepper on it. I've been really enjoying that." She heard the ballet that was being performed locally was good, so my aunt suddenly summoned enough strength to ring up one of her other friends and tell her she really must go to the ballet. Today, she first asked me what day it was, then asked if I'd had lunch, then told me I must go to watch the horses in the gymkana.
In my experience, morphine gives you pretty wild dreams. Myself, I had Summer Block Buster dreams - one night I survived a massive storm on a lake, by somehow keeping a barge afloat. Another night, I kicked ass in a prison riot. My aunt's dreams are more to her tastes - she dreams of shopping. She has been to some good pharmacies and food halls the last couple nights, but her faves are finding sales in women's clothing stores.
We caved and took her to the hospital today, as Mom hasn't had any sleep in 3 nights. I think maybe my aunt was relieved to go where they had oxygen and better medicine, so she was in fine form as we left. She was waving like the Queen to anyone who was watching as we drove away. Then, as the doctor was taking her history, he asked about swollen ankles. Hers are currently quite swollen, so she showed him but said, " Well, I've always been known for my slim ankles. You would never have seen such slim ankles."
This might all seem macabre, and perhaps not nice that I'm making jokes, but at this point, we know she doesn't have very long left. We're just hoping it's quick and painless.
* a week ago, my aunt started talking about a play set in a Nursing Home, called Waiting for God. "Well, that's what they'd be doing, wouldn't it? haha" I knew she was feeling good if she was using black humour.