« Relief... | Main | Buttloads of merriment! »
December 23, 2000
Oh, man...
Remember in that last entry, when I said my mom was fine? I spoke a bit too soon. She wasn't fine, but hopefully she's on her way to being fine now... she came through the surgery just fine. The doctor explained what he'd done to me, told me about taking her appendix out and all that, but said everything should be okay. I went in to see her in the recovery room, and she seemed okay, if a bit groggy. I gave her the little teddy bear I'd bought her in the gift shop (named Barnaby, which is a very suitable name for a bear) and sat and read while she slept. We went home at around 5, and she seemed okay. In pain, sure, but otherwise on the mend. Thursday, she was okay. In a lot of pain, again, but lucid, and in good spirits. By Thursday afternoon, things were looking a bit bad. I had rented "X-Men," because she hadn't seen it (and I can always look at Hugh Jackman shirtless...) and so I cooked her some dinner, and we settled down on her bed to watch the movie. For the first half, she was asking questions, commenting on the movie, and having a good time. During the second half, she got very quiet, and just put her head on my shoulder for a while. By the time the movie ended, she was very pale, and in a lot more pain. She admitted she'd had a fever earlier -- one of the things the doctor said to watch out for. I checked her as best I could -- she didn't own a thermometer -- and she felt cool, and a bit clammy. She insisted it was normal, that she was just tired, and needed some sleep. I made her promise to wake me if she felt worse, and tucked her in for the night. I stayed up very late that night, in case she needed me -- I fel;l asleep at around 1:30 or so. At 7 a.m., I awoke to her crying from the pain. She was standing in the dining room, trying to take the dog out for a walk. (I know! Who walks a dog when they're feeling crappy?!? My mom, that's who! And now I know where my stubborn streak comes from...) Turns out she had been in agony since 3 a.m., but didn't wake me up. (Again with the stubbornness...) I put her back to bed, walked the dog, and then tried to convince her to call the doctor. She agreed to call the hospital -- the doctor on call basicallt blew her off. She sent me to go buy a thermometer (thank heavens Wal-Mart is open early) and I checked her temperature -- 100.1 degrees. Both she and I tend to have low body temps -- mine is usually around 96 degrees. She called the hospital again, and was told to go to the emergency room. I helped her get dressed, and got her into the car -- which was heartbreaking, because every move caused her enormous amounts of pain. When we got there, I ran inside to get an orderly to bring a wheelchair for her -- she couldn't get out of the car. The nurse at the desk was chatting on the phone, and kept me waiting (hopping from foot to foot, and swearing a lot) for a good 4-5 minutes before finally hanging up. It took another minute or two to get her to realize that I wasn't the patient, dammit, and I needed a wheelchair. She finally got it, and took a chair out to get my mom -- and then spoke to her like she was a three-year-old, which made me want to shriek. The nurse took us inside, had my mom do the questionairre thingie, took her blood pressure, and then sent us off to the waiting room. For 45 minutes. Now, sitting in a chair was the most painful thing my mom could have been doing, and I cannot relax when someone I love is hurting. I finally stomped out to the desk, where the nurse was chatting on the phone AGAIN, and demanded to know when someone would see her. "Oh... yeah, let me see if her doctor is around," the bnurse said, and wandered off. What, she hadn't done that right away? She came back a few minutes later, and took my mom off to an exam room, where she had her put on one of those horrid hospital gowns (you know, the ones that let your ass hang out for all the world to see) and had her lie down. She left the back of the bed tilted up so high that my mom couldn't get comfortable -- and all the nurses had vanished, so I figured out how to lower it. By then, the pain was so bad, I don't know how she stayed conscious. We waited a half hour. Nothing. No check-in from the nurses, no doctor, nothing. And they weren't busy. I'm not heartless -- I would have understood if there were car-accident victims lined up to be seen, or something. But from what I saw, the nurses were standing around chatting. The doctor was not paged -- I would have heard it. Nothing was done, until I stormed out into the hall, found a woman who looked like she knew what she was doing, and asked when, if ever, someone was going to take care of my mother. She left to find out where the doctor was, and (miracle of miracles) came back a minute later to say the attending ER doctor would be right in. Dr. C. arrived a minute or two later, and was wonderful. Very efficient, very attentive -- he didn't dismiss her as being a baby over some post-op pain, like the nurses seemed to be doing. He listened to me -- which was nice, since I had been with her the whole time, and could give a good description of what had happened. He checked her out, and told her exactly what he was going to do. He then paged the doctor on call, Dr. B., who showed up ten minutes or so later. He told us he was admitting my mom right away, and that she may need more surgery -- which was exactly what she was afraid of. He scheduled a CAT scan, and told us he would be in touch. After that, things happened pretty quickly -- she was moved up to a room, and given lots of IV fluids and antibiotics -- Dr. C. had listened to her lungs, and said he thought she had a touch of pneumonia -- and she was kept comfortable until the CAT scan. The nurses were lovely -- called her sweetheart and honey, and tended to every possible need. Another doctor, Dr. P., came in to check on her. The CAT scan showed that there was a lot of swelling and inflammation around where her appendix had been, but Dr. P. said there was no need for more surgery -- he also said that they weren't certain it was her appendix that had been removed, which is a bit troubling... hopefully it wasn't a part she needed -- and that she'd have to stay for a couple of days, and be given a ton of antibiotics, and fluids. That's where she is now. And I'm tired. I've been at the hospital non-stop, except for brief trips home to feed and walk the dogs, and one trip to Wal-Mart today, to buy a couple of sweatshirts -- I didn't bring many clothes home, and I don't want to take the time to do laundry, so the sweater I was wearing was developing a life of its own. She's doing okay -- she was a little feverish when I left her tonight, which worries me, but at least she's somewhere where she can be looked after. I had a good long cry last night, while waiting for the car to warm up at the hospital -- I hate feeling helpless. She was always so good at making me feel better when I was sick or hurt -- hell, even now, the first thing I do when something goes wrong is call her. It's hard when the roles are reversed. But thank you to everyone who has emailed -- it really helps. I've passed all the well-wishes along, and she appreciates them. And -- crap, Christmas is in what, two days? I still owe a lot of people cards and stuff. Gah. Sorry. They'll be in the mail shortly. And... keep sending happy thoughts, or prayers, or whatever... I just want her to be able to come home for Christmas.
Posted by Mary Ellen at December 23, 2000 09:32 PM