My last “normal” day was the day I went to the OKC Zoo with Jeff, Scott and Sarah. The following day, things got really weird.
THURSDAY, MARCH 22: Jeff calls me to ask me to come over, saying his grandmother was acting strange. So I go. And… Mom is having trouble remembering stuff. Like her date of birth, her address, and how old one of her grandsons was.
I suggested that we call my sister, which Jeff told me that she, Dean, the kids and Marc were in Dallas.
Long story short, we called, described Mom’s symptoms, and it was suggested that we take her to the emergency room.
Mom was having NONE of that. She said she was fine. So, at the suggestion of a nurse in the ER, we made an appointment with Mom’s doctor on Friday morning.
FRIDAY, MARCH 23: Tori had returned from Dallas, and went with us to take Mom to her doctor appointment at 4pm. Mom was checked over, told she needed a walker because she had fallen (which started the whole episode).
SATURDAY, MARCH 24: Mom seemed to be back to her version of normal, and I stayed for dinner after spending an uncomfortable night on her living room couch.
MONDAY, MARCH 26: I go to school as usual, do all my usual things, took a biology test, and went home. I had already gone to bed when Tori calls out of the blue at 11:30pm to tell me that she and Dean were at the hospital with Mom. She had spent the two days I hadn’t seen her in the same clothes I saw her in when she went to the doctor on Friday. She was totally out of it and the boys freaked out.
Tori told me that Mom has Congestive Heart failure on the right side, which essentially means that her legs swell, blood backs up into the heart, making it work harder than it has to because her lungs are coated with crap from 60+ years of smoking. The O2 level of her blood, which normally is between 95-100%, was something like 45%. Had we done nothing, she probably would have died. She’s admitted to the hospital, put on oxygen, and placed in ICU.
TUESDAY, MARCH 27: I start making trips to the hospital, which is near UCO, after school. Mom keeps saying stuff like if she had known she was being brought to the hospital, she wouldn’t have gone.
She’s getting breathing treatments, and is on oxygen. She’s in the ICU and she asks me about cigarettes. I told her that she’d have to stop smoking because of the oxygen. The family has decided that no one was going to buy cigarettes for her anymore, and that was fine with me. Mom, however, might not like that, but said something to the effect of “what. ever.”
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28: Things are looking up some. Mom’s complaining about stuff. She worries about the boys in her house all alone (does she think they’re still little? I was afraid to ask), and keeps asking me if I need money.
FRIDAY, MARCH 30: I’m on my way to the hospital with Daniel (whom I’ve convinced to come with me. He was a bit leery of seeing his grandmother in the hospital) when Mom calls me telling me she “broke something”.
Turns out, for some reason I don’t understand, they took the alarm off of her that alerted them if she tried to get out of bed. So Mom tries to manouver herself towards the bathroom (she’s now in a regular hospital room), and she falls, breaking the neck of her femur. She has wristbands on both wrists that plainly say FALL RISK, and they let her try to get around on her own?
Tori arrives shortly after we did, and then a woman from the hospital comes to talk to us, telling us that she feels “awful” about what happened, and that the hospital would pick up the tab for her stay from that day until she leaves. She was kissing our asses, and we knew it, and she knew that we knew it.
Oh, and it’s Jeff’s birthday (and Dean’s as well).
SATURDAY, MARCH 31: A surgeon was to come in and talk to Mom about surgery on her leg, and it was decided that surgery would take place the next day.
SUNDAY, APRIL 1: No joke, Mom has her surgery at some ungodly hour early in the morning. After surgery, she goes back to the ICU. I go to see her and practically spent the night there. Then there was this snafu about who was going to take me home, since the buses don’t run on Sunday.
MONDAY, APRIL 2: Mom still is getting care in the ICU, but will probably be transferred to a skilled nursing center at some point. She asks me that when she got home (which for some reason, Mom thinks that will be soon, like the next day) that if she bought a computer, would I teach her how to use it. I said I would. Then she said she wanted a puppy AND a kitten. She wanted the puppy first. I told her we could go to the animal shelter and take a look, but only when she was well enough to get around on her own with the aid of a walker.
At this point, I’m missing way too much school.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3: I get a text message from Tori asking that I tell Mom she’s going to the skilled nursing facility in Midwest City that Dean is the medical director of. She can’t do it because she has to be at work. So I miss yet another class and head to the hospital. By the time I get there, she’s already been told, and is sitting on a regular recliner like chair. She was to be picked up at 11:30am.
She finally was on her way around noon, and I text Tori that Mom was on her way.
Later that day, Scott picks me up and takes me to the skilled nursing facility (which is DAMN hard to find!) to see Mom, and she’s already bitching and complaining about stuff.
THURSDAY, APRIL 5: I couldn’t make it to MWC today, so Mom calls me and tells me she is bored. I asked if she was getting therapy and she said she was. I told her I would try to find a way to get there, but I couldn’t promise anything.
Today, Friday, will mark two weeks since her doctor’s appointment. Mom’s in good hands, and I’ll visit her as often as I can, provided I can get a ride there.
Right now, my life and the lives of my family has taken a new turn. I have no idea where it’s going to lead. I’ll just have to hang on and hope for the best.
===
I’m Stef, and this is where it’s @ !~
where it's @ !~ 