Mama

Well, we got home from Washington and I got sick. So I laid around for awhile and finally went to the doctor on Thursday, the day I was supposed to go back to work. He told me to stay off work 4 more days. So I went home and went back to bed. My mother called me that night and told me she was having chest pain. I went to her place and called 911. We went to the ER and she was admitted to the hospital. On the floor I work, no less. So I ended up staying at the hospital anyway. But my illness had mysteriously disappeared. I guess she scared it out of me. The next morning the doctor came in and told her she needed to have a heart catheterization. I asked her about her dog, who also had severe heart problems, and she gave me permission to have her put to sleep. So I came home and fed her dog and gave her some treats, then made the trip to the vet. I hated to do it, but she had suffered long enough. Shortly after I got back to the hospital, they came and got Mama for the cath. When they finished, they called me and my sister to come down there, instead of coming to the room like they were supposed to. Needless to say, we were scared. They had to do a baloon procedure on her and then put a stent in one of her arteries in her heart. If you're not familiar with this procedure, you have a large tube (a sheath) in your groin going into an artery. After they take out the sheath, you have to lie flat for 6 hours. Her procedure ended about 3pm. They weren't able to remove the sheath until about 8pm. So she couldn't even turn over for 6 more hours. She has arthritis in her back and legs and she was in alot of pain. Nothing they gave her stopped the pain. And they gave her lots of stuff. So when her bedrest was up, she couldn't get up because she was so loopy. Then her blood pressure took a nose dive. It got as low as 65/31. She couldn't move her left side and was talking to people who weren't there. I thought she had a stroke. Thank God I was wrong. They gave her alot of IV fluid and she got better. She came home on Sunday (mother's day). I brought her to my house so I could keep a close eye on her. She isn't recovering as fast as she should, but she's 77 years old and doesn't do anything fast anymore. Her blood count dropped drastically as if she was bleeding somewhere. I took her to Thompson Cancer Survival Center today to be checked there. She has a problem with her blood count anyway so they checked her blood and gave her a shot to help build it up. So hopefully she'll be back on the mend soon. One good thing that happened during all this is that she was approached by a nurse who told her about a study that was being done with a new drug. Plavix is the drug they put people on to prevent platelet formation which helps the blood to clot. Stents tend to attract blood cells that will stick to it if the blood has alot of platelets in it. This prevents the stent from keeping the artery open. A drug company has made a new drug which has to pass tests on patients before it can be approved by the FDA for marketing. So she is participating in the study and gets her medicine for free. She may be taking Plavix, she may be taking the new drug. We don't know. Not even the doctor knows. But she can stop the study any time she wants to. She isn't required to stay in it. She also gets free physicals while she's in it. So I feel pretty safe that the care she's getting is the best because they really monitor her closely. So that is what has been going on in my life. Exciting, huh? I'm tired of excitement! I just want to get back to my normal, humdrum life! But I love my mom and I'll take care of her forever, if I need to. Maybe next time I'll post something a little more interesting. Take care and everybody have a good day.