June 1. Day 152. In sickness and in health

Unless you count bootie calls, a phone call after midnight is unlikely to be good news. This was definitely not a bootie call. When I saw Margaret's number come up on my phone two thoughts clashed. 1) This can't be good, negative Susan said. Positive Susan had another version. 2) It can't be that bad if she has managed to get to the phone and dial my number.  True it wasn't THAT bad. She had a really, really bad ear ache. She wanted me to call the after hours doctor and she wanted company. I went over. June 1. First day of winter. It was freezing. I made the call and administered pain relief. She was still hurting but clearly it took the edge off. She talked. Mostly I lay curled under the doona on the couch and listened. The doctor came and went. An ear infection was diagnosed and drugs administered but the doctor said a follow up  at the GP in the next  24 hours was advised and if things got worse hospital outpatients. I couldn't leave her. I settled in for the night.
By morning the pain was back and she was shaky on her feet. I could see no reasonable way of getting her safely out of the house. The ambulance came and off she went to hospital. The ear was syringed and an ear wick inserted. The doctor was lovely. He said she could be admitted but inevitably that would mean exposure to the sort of germs a 90-year-old woman does not need if it can be avoided. So we went home with drugs and the promise of a night with more sleep (given neither or us slept last night that wouldn't be hard). Tomorrow back to hospital to have the wick removed.