Better Aging Through Chemistry

Wifey's biggest life stressor, by far, has been her ancient mother, particularly in the nearly a year since her Dad died. And, since I live with Wifey, and she shares everything with me, including the stress, my mother in law has been a 200 lb burr under my saddle, too.

The woman is physically an ox. Her young doctor reported that she has the heart and breathing of a thirty year old. But she has become more obnoxious, offensive, and downright nasty to be with -- sanctimonious and victimized, awful, you name it.  The depth of this occurred a few weeks ago, when she barked orders at me in our local deli, Lots of Lox, and I called her on her behavior, which just made things worse. Instead of simply apologizing, she went on a tirade -- "All of a sudden you so SENSITIVE???!!!" was her response.

Well, there may be a light at the end of this nasty tunnel. Wifey took her to her doctor's appointment last week, and the doc put the old crone on Selexa, a mood stabilizer. My mother in law agreed to take it to deal with her "anxiety." Whatever.  The damn pills may be working!

Yesterday, we took her out, and on an annoyance scale of 1-10, where 10 is normal for her, she probably came in at a more tolerable 7.  While she typically protests at the restaurant that she is "not hungry" and goes on and on about it, before wolfing down her food like a fraternity boy denied a day's feeding, yesterday she only announced she was not hungry once, before scarfing down a world class sized hot dog.  When the bill came, she was almost classy in the way she announced she was paying. OK -- never really classy, but not obstreperous, at least.

It may have been that my mood was elevated by the Fins exciting win over the Jets, so I can't really trust these observations, but the visit with her seemed, well, less odious than usual. Hopefully this is the start of greater tolerability.

When we returned to our condo, the weather was gorgeous. I suggested we go sit by the pool, which is surrounded by lovely tropical vegetation. We had some comical relief, as her attempt to sit on a deck lounge nearly resulted in a Three Stooges-like teeter totter, before Wifey and I grabbed her and plopped her into the seat built into her walker.

But we sat there for awhile, actually enjoying the delightful breeze, before she announced brusquely that she "vas cold" and "vanted to go in."

So go Selexa!  If this wonder drug can even out this tough old, um, woman -- I'll be most grateful.