[GeorgiaMa'am]

My sister's distress. Our mother is now in a geriatric psych ward, having her medications evaluated. She could be there for up to two weeks, and my sister feels that she has abandoned our mother. Also, I think she's feeling out of control - that's an unusual situation for her, and it makes her extremely uncomfortable.

She told me how much she hates to cry. She just stuffs her feelings down and ignores them. I suggested that it might be good for her to get them out. (I really think she could use some therapy.) She just said she can't stand the feeling, and it makes her head hurt and she feels "mushy".

She also misses our mother. She said when the transport people took her today it felt heartbreaking, as if they were taking one of her children. My sister and mom have lived together for the past two years, and then my sister found her, what we thought was, the perfect nursing home. It's six minutes away from my sister's house, and she has been to see our mom every day since we moved her there, two weeks ago.

I'm worried about Mama too, but she's just going through the system, going through all the red tape of living in a nursing facility. The geriatric psych ward in this hospital specializes in what she needs, and I'm sure they will take care of it as soon as possible (I hope - I do have dark thoughts about them keeping her as long as possible to run up the Medicare bill). But then she will get back to her nursing home, and my sister will get back to her daily visits. She can check in with the nurses daily and attend all of Mama's caretaker team meetings and feel like she's in control again.

I just hope my sister doesn't break.