Saturday, February 10, 2007

OH for a boring life..........

Since Tuesday my mother has been sick. By sick I mean unable to hold any food down, no appetite and days and nights inside the bathroom. I talked to her on the phone and she wanted no part of going to the doctors. Last night I made a huge chicken and took some over there for supper. When I saw the condition she was in I could not believe my eyes. My mother is 75 yrs. old but goes to a flea market every Saturday and walks for hours. Honestly, sometimes she seems more energetic than me. She was so weak she could no longer get to the bathroom although she needed to. My 84 yr. old father and myself got her changed twice and cleaned up in the brief time we tried to get her into a vehicle. Although she resisted I told her she simply had to get medical attention. I had been up since 7 that morning and had a frustrating day. I knew what had to be done and prayed I could stay awake long enough to do it. We got her into their van and into the ER and within an hour she was in a private ER room. They had immediately confirmed my diagnosis that she was severely dehydrated. They got an iv bag of fluid into her quickly and did some blood tests. It was soon discovered she had quite an infection. I left the ER about 1 a.m. although they still had not taken her up to her room. My father was unbearable by now and insisting they both belonged in a nursing home. I think I got about four hours sleep before heading back today. She looked drastically improved and was even eating small portions of food. They are giving her two antibiotics intravenously. I shuuder to think what would have happened had I not taken her to the hospital. I think in another day or so she might not have pulled through.

Although tired I made it to the Cingular Wireless store today and got a pink Razor. This will be an early Valentines present. I got the bluetooth headset which was part of a package, good deal. After the rebate it will have cost me $89. I'll be styling. lol My old phone was so old that well you don't even want to think about it. It couldn't take pictures, not that I use my cel phone for pics.

Today I was forced (yes by cyber gun point) to change my blog. Since several of my friends have done this I have been unable to post comments in their blogs. I love their blogs and it has been very frustrating to freeze up every time I have tried. Sometimes I email the comments and other times I just am too lazy. Forgive me.

Well I need to go call and see if the doctor has shared any further updates with my mother.
You know yesterday for the first time I looked at her in a different light. This woman who I always thought would be there looked old and fragile. It hit me that there may be a day where she won't be. I saw her not as the strong parental figure but as a vulnerable and weak elderly person and it was shocking. I heard one of the nurses refer to her as an old lady and it got to me.
On the whole the nurses weren't great but one was, Jason. He really bonded with both of us and was frustrated when they sent him elsewhere for an hour but he made his way back. After I left my mother said he kept a close eye on her, even coming up to say goodbye when his shift ended. I find that small kindnesses at a time like that are worth their weight in gold. Bless you Jason.

3 comments:

Cynthia said...

That realization that your parents are old is a hard one. Hope she gets better soon.

alphawoman said...

Nurses like Jason are few and far between. The first time dad was in the hospital with congestive heart failure he had a great male nurse too. i guess they are overworked and understaffed anymore. And the care allowed by the insurance companies sucks also. You were an angel to take your Mom to the hospital! I have reverted to just calling 911 in the past.

jennifer said...

God I hate seeing my dad sick, getting older and weaker. It breaks my heart. I sure hope Mom gets better quickly.

Pink Razr, eh? Take a picture of you with your headset. This I wanna see.

YAY! You switched! YAY!