Tuesday, December 4, 2012

How Not To Spend An Afternoon

Spent the afternoon at the ER in Cooperstown Tuesday.  Mom had a cold for a couple of days and she was rather weak and wobbly.  Her home health care aide worried she might have had a stroke so we called for an ambulance and went to Bassett. Tests results show no signs of a stroke, mild to moderate dehydration and an irregular heart beat so they decided to admit her, hang a saline drip and do a MRI in the morning.  Once the drip was going she perked up and after an hour or so started to be her usual bitchy self (why hasn't the doctor come back?  where's that nurse? etc). The ER was full and very busy. (Then there was the 'major trauma' on RTE 28 S that came in just before we left to come home. It forced us to take a detour down dark country roads where we missed a turn, ending up in Fort Plain...about 20 miles east of home but where gasoline was only $3.65! Good because by then we needed some!  Still, I'm glad Jeff was driving!)   Mom did not have a good night and when Jeff and I got back the next day she was totally out of it.  She hadn't eaten anything and was on oxygen!  Jeff got her to eat while I got hysterical (we had left her sitting up eating a ham sandwich!)  Yesterday she was eating and talking but went to sleep when we got there.  The doctor said the UTI may have traveled up to her kidneys and they wanted to rule that out.  I managed to pick up a cold (complete with chills and fever) somewhere along the line and had slept all the way down...and back...and all evening in the chair by the fire...and all night.  (Some cold, huh?)  Jeff slept on the couch and Fanny kept growling at him! This morning I called the hospital and told them that I would not be coming down today coz of the cold.  This afternoon the doctor called and said mom was ready to be discharged.  There was no way I wanted to go back down there in a cold rain but....  Then the doctor called back and said maybe she should go to rehab to regain her strength and mobility.  After a few more phone calls the case manager was going to look for a bed at Valley Health or Folts.  Haven't heard from anyone in a couple of hours so I think she'll stay put until Monday. I'll find out in the morning.

 Fanny was fantastic on her own the first day!  No puddles or piles, shredded or chipped wood or chewed up household implements (wooden spoons and plastic screwdriver handles are favorites!).  She was happy to see me but over-the-moon to see Jeff!  (Hey, I'm the one who opens the dog food cans!)  But last night she wasn't so good and left a pile next to the-sleeping-on- the-couch Jeff.  He made soup in our new crock pot when we got home and kept encouraging me to have some.   I had tried to work on a ladies sock while we waited...and waited...and waited in the ER but didn't get very far coz Mom's 'room' was in the hall and I had to keep moving as other patients were moved around.  Didn't do any knitting last night either.
And on top of it all, I lost my cell phone...after just download 120 minutes on to it.

No comments: