It's really quite amazing. My mom - all of 85 years old - had not spent as much as a single night in the hospital since she had me on her 25th birthday!
Until two weeks ago, that is.
I suppose it's about time I try to recall what happened and record it here...
THE TIMELINE...
On Sunday, May 21st, she woke up having a hard time getting her breath. She stayed home from church and was thinking about driving herself to the ER when two friends who'd noticed her absence stopped by to check on her. Fortunately they took her to the Emergency Room in Princeton.
She spent that night and most of Monday in ICU there. Her heart rate was elevated and she had fluid on her lung. Preliminary diagnosis was AFib and Congestive Heart Failure.
I finally messaged my sister and asked what her plan was. She said she was heading out Monday morning and would spend the week with her, and then we could go Friday as we were already planning to do.
On Monday they found out that they needed to transfer mom to another hospital because 1) Princeton didn't have what they needed to take care of her, and 2) apparently they were not going to have any ICU nurses after 7 pm. They tried getting her into Peoria's OSF hospital but it was full, so they ended up tranferring her to St. Anthony's in Rockford, IL. My sister called and said she wasn't sure if she was going to make it after all, so we just headed that way ourselves.
We drove like maniacs and made a beeline to Princeton. Our nephew, who happens to be my mom's doctor, was keeping us updated and he was able to stall the EMS drivers until we arrived around 7 pm. So we got to see mom just as they were wheeling her out of her room to transfer her to Rockford. Of course my sister got there right before we did after all.
The two of us and my sister stayed at my mom's house Monday night. For some reason we didn't think visiting hours started until 11 am in Rockford, so we waited until then Tuesday to make the 1 1/2 hour trip to see her. We were wrong though, as visiting hours were actually from 8:30-8:30.
When we arrived Tuesday there was a lady from mom's church there. Apparently she'd been there since like 8 am. Mom looked really tired, and once we were able to get rid of the church lady, mom was none too pleased she had been there all morning! We also found out there had been a revolving door of visitors when she was in Princeton - in ICU no less!!!
My sister did manage to get the message across to several of mom's friends and her pastor that she needed rest AND THEY NEEDED TO LEAVE HER ALONE! Tuesday they did some tests and were finally able to lower her oxygen assistance down. They still couldn't get her heart rate down though.
We finally left Tuesday afternoon since it appeared she wasn't in any imminent danger. We went back to Deb was going to stay until we could come back on Friday. It was a super terrible drive home through Chicago though, and we didn't arrive home until 10 pm. You don't want to be on Lake Shore Drive during rush hour. It was a short night, as 3:50 am rolled around quite quickly!
It must have been Wednesday that they finally drained nearly 1/2 liter of fluid off mom's lung. They were able to completely take her off the oxygen then. They were hoping to lower her heart rate with drugs but it just wasn't happening, so they decided they were going to have to shock her heart back into rhythm. They did that Friday morning.
As expected, my sister was only able to make it up to the hospital a couple times for short visits. I felt bad mom had to lay there by herself for so much of the time, especially since we had discouraged anyone else from coming. I really don't think she minded so much, but it irritated me about my sister.
On Friday we worked early and the two of us along with Carrie headed to Rockford mid-afternoon. We went straight to the hospital, and the 7-hour trip after working 8 hours just about did me in. We stayed until visiting hours were over and headed to Buda.
Saturday morning the three of us got up and headed back to Rockford. My sister headed home to Minnesota. Mom was feeling pretty good and all her vitals were normal. The doctor finally came in and said she could go home - with NO RESTRICTIONS! I was kind of surprised about that. They only thing the doctor suggested was that she wait to drive until she knew how she responded to the changes to her medications.
We finally left the hospital - with mom - around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. She was glad to be home, but I think she was asleep in her recliner before the sun set. Of course three friends stopped to see her within an hour of her being home. Already they were wondering about her coming to church the next day and the Memorial Day service on Monday! Grrrrr.
Mom slept good Saturday night, and while she said she was feeling fine Sunday, she did actually admit that laying in the hospital for a week had taken more out of her than she thought. She said she felt "a little cloudy." She did also take a 3-hour nap Sunday afternoon!
I did stuff around the yard Sunday: got her mower started, trimmed weeds and bushes, and whatnot. I guess I also got in an 8-mile run that I was supposed to do Saturday. Jane went over to visit her brother Keith a couple times. Carrie took care of her grandma. It was a pretty chill day.
We headed back home late Monday morning after my mom's sister Kay arrived. She stayed with her all last week and left after church yesterday. My sister was supposed to come back but, guess what... she just can't make it. Whatever. Mom is probably better off being home alone than having her there with all her drama anyway.
Anyway, after having some time to reflect, it's hard to complain when someone has been as healthy as my mom her whole life. My biggest fear is that she won't slow down though. She simply can't say no when people ask her to do things or go places. I think the bulk of the heart damage was done by, first, my sister guilted her into flying to Florida to stay with her (apparently my sister said she couldn't go if my mom wouldn't go with her). Then, second, she got talked into going to this stupid Noah's Ark replica in Kentucky with a church group. She told us she didn't want to go (she also told us she wasn't going to Florida), but my aunt convinced her to. The Ark trip about 5 days before she went to the hospital is where she initially started complaining of back pain. I guess they walked A LOT. But, again, whatever. She's old enough to be able to make her own decisions. Plus, if she enjoys it, why not?
One thing I learned about myself through all this (which I already knew)... I'm just not a nice person. I guess it is what it is.
I am also very tired. Not completely from this, but a lot of things. I feel like I'm just barely hanging on. Maybe that's how life is, I dunno, but it's like everything is spinning and I wish it would stop even just for a moment.
So, there's that. I thought I wold do a better job keeping track of things, or writing things down, but this is all I've got.
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