345 – 328

I beat my mother in Scrabble last night. Game was okay. She took an early lead (opened with JIBES for 46), but a few turns in I played UNAWARES for 61, and a little later FRAT for 34 put me in the lead for good.

When I visit my mom, we play. A quick stop is a game or two. A long weekend could be 4, 5, 7. I win more than I lose, but they are good games.

But we have not played. Not since my visit last September, over a year ago, my last visit before surgery. The surgery went well, but it was followed by a stroke.

Sometime last November I noticed a statin on her meds list. I spoke with the doctor – years ago she took herself off statins. She claimed they made her thinking fuzzy. I told the doctor about Scrabble. I am good for 3 out of 5 or even 3 out of 4 when I’m on a roll. But while she was on statins, I won better than 9 out of 10. And she played super-slowly and made mistakes. He removed them.

In December we were talking about recovery. I had questions about mobility, about memory, about the ability to socialize. And about Scrabble. He was hopeful that she will play scrabble with me, but may not be able to compete.  We will see evolution over the next 12-18 months.

But over the next few months, it was not at all clear that the doctor’s assessment would be correct. I cursed that conversation and its false hope.

But turns out, it wasn’t false. I’m sure I’ll win more than I lose. And the margins may be more than 17 points. But I’m thankful we have our Scrabble back.