Thinking of My Mom

I had a blog topic for tonight, but that was pushed aside when my mom called me today and said she was waiting for Dale (her husband) to get home so she could go to the ER.  She's been having a really bad headache since Sunday night/early Monday morning.  On Monday, she went to the chiropractor and got minor relief.  This morning, she called her doctor, but the phone rang and rang and she never got through.  So she called the chiropractor again.  That provided little to no relief.  I told her to just go to the ER.  She said she would tomorrow if things weren't better, but for now it was on to Grandma's (her mom) for sewing day.  I told her I thought sewing was a Bad Idea, and she said she was just going to Sit and Visit (a good ol' Midwestern past-time).

I had a doctor's appointment of my own today, and when I got out, I hit Trader Joe's, then called Mom to see how she felt.  This is when she said she was sitting at the door waiting for Dale to take her to the ER.  I knew this was bad.  This is the person whose leg could fall off, and she would pick it up and keep trekking.  Okay, clearly, that's hyperbole, but you get my point.  If she's giving in and going to the ER, this isn't a good sign.  She had even already written down all her scripts, her doctor's info, and emptied her purse except for her insurance card and driver's license.  This was a woman on a mission.

A few hours later, I got a call from Dale.  Apparently, he's FINALLY learnt his lesson; he's learnt to call me and give updates when my mommy is in hospital.  This is a vast difference from the time my mom had been in hospital for TWO DAYS and he didn't bother to tell me.  I found out only when I finally called his daughter to find out where the hell everyone was and why I couldn't get ahold of anyone, and SHE tells me "Oh, your mom's been in [name of hospital] since [two days ago]."  Suffice to say, I went a bit postal.  This incident was repeated AGAIN a year later.  So I think he's finally caught on.

Anyway... my mom was originally scheduled for a biopsy on her ophthalmic blood vessel tomorrow, but she JUST called and said they changed it to an MRI.  The think she has temporal arteritis.  They caught it in time before the inflammatory response of the ophthalmic blood vessel cause any permanent vision changes/damage, so that's good news.  The other great news is that this is a completely curable condition.  She'll have about a year of oral prednisone treatment, and that is stuff that her current rheumatologist can oversee.  After that, there will be no lasting effects.

For now, she's loaded on morphine because the swelling of the blood vessel has caused her some pretty major pain.  She seems to be in good hands.  The treating neurologist is a visiting doctor from Loyola (in Chicago), because the neuro team who regularly staff that hospital are all on maternity leave (they must have had one hell of a party nine months ago).  Despite all of the things I've heard about the "new" hospital in the city, Mom has had no complaints thus far (except that she thought the garlic mashed potatoes came WITH the strip streak for supper and they did not).

And, as always, it's difficult to be half a country away from someone I care about who is going through a scary time.