...and I'm just getting home from the emergency room. I tell ya, there's never a dull moment around here.
I didn't mention in the last post that my mother wasn't feeling well when she left. When I said that my last guests just left, I was referring to my mom, sister and brother's girlfriend (SIL).
For a few months now, my mom's been experiencing these dizzy spells. Sometimes it's as quick as a head rush, sometimes it's a few seconds longer, but it always passes. At her last visit with her oncologist, she mentioned it to him. He wasn't too happy to hear about it, and immediately gave her orders for a CT scan of the brain. He had just finished telling her that even though she had passed the 5-year mark that usually indicated full remission, the type of tumor she had was a slow-growing tumor, and doesn't usually show itself again for 7 years. So, technically, she isn't in remission yet. Naturally, he was worried that perhaps the cancer had spread to the brain.
Ok, well, the scan came back clean, so no worries. But, my mom kept having these moments of dizziness. She mentioned that a while back, while cleaning her ears, she went in too far with her Q-tip (WTF?!) and hurt herself. There was some bleeding involved. So, she thought maybe that's what was causing this dizziness, or maybe some kind of inner-ear infection. Yet, she never made an appointment to see her GP and have it checked out.
Now, fast forward to today. When the party was winding down, my mom, sister and SIL went out to sit on my deck. I came out a little while later to join them. Apparently, my mother was feeling dizzy but never said anything. SIL made her some coffee, and we sat around chatting. When she said she was ready to go, she finally mentioned that she was feeling dizzy. But now, she was feeling REALLY dizzy. We thought maybe she was a bit dehydrated, between the margaritas and the coffee. I got her a bottle of water, and she took a few sips, but she said it wasn't helping. Every time she tried to stand, she had to immediately sit back down because she was so dizzy. She was also feeling nauseous at this point. We decided that I would just drive her home in her car, and CSJ agreed to follow us in his car, and drive me back home. My sister was pushing her to guzzle the water, since we were sure she needed the hydration.
I went out front to get my mother's car and pull it in my driveway so she wouldn't have to walk far, and CSJ left for my parents' house. When I walked back into my yard, I see my mother slumped over a bucket (actually, it was a big plastic party bucket, the kind you put drinks in). She had been puking her guts out. Well, we all know how I feel about puke! I went in to get her some ginger ale, while my sister and SIL tended to my mother. I guess she tried to stand up again, and almost fell. My sister put the puke bin in my trash can and we tried to get her in the car, but no such luck. She immediately started to heave. Thankfully, my sister got the bucket back in time!
A few minutes later, she thought she was ready to try getting to the car again. My sister and SIL each walked on either side of her, basically carrying her along. She got about 10 feet down the driveway, and had to stop. She then started projectile vomiting all over the side of my house. I ran to get her a chair, and she just sat and puked for a few more minutes. We went in and got her cool rags for her forehead and face, and an ice pack to put on the back of her neck. SIL swears it always helps her when she's pukey.
By now, about 25 minutes have passed, and I realize CSJ is sitting at my parents' house. I call him and tell him what's going on, and suggest he just bring my dad back to my house. I figured by the time they got there, we could get my mom in the car, and my dad could just drive home.
My mother was still sitting in the chair when the boys arrived. It was very slow going getting her in the car. Every time she moved, she felt like she wanted to puke. Every time she tried to stand up, she was overcome with dizziness. We finally got her in the car, but then my dad had to wait for a while for her to settle in before he could drive. I gave her a good, sturdy bag to puke in, if needed, and they finally were on their way. My dad told her that if she threw up any more, he was taking her to the hospital instead of home. While they were waiting around to leave, my brother called my dad, and said he was at my parents' house, so my dad told him to just go in, they were on their way. My sister and SIL were both going to head there, also. My SIL stopped on the way to get Pedialyte and Smartwater.
They all left, I came in, cleaned up a little, and called there about a half hour after they left to check on my mom. My sister said she seemed better, but she was still dizzy. I told her to call me if things changed. I went downstairs to finish cleaning up, but realized I was just too tired. I came back up, put on my jammies and got in bed. I then wrote that last post.
I watched some TV, and just as I was settling in for sleep, my SIL called. "Ok, so there's an ambulance here, they're taking your mom to Christ [
that's our local hospital]. She had a really bad attack, and she's been puking her guts out for about a half hour." I tell her I'll meet them there, tear off my pajamas, throw on the first two things I find in my bedroom, and run out the door.
Wow, this is quite the saga, isn't it? Let me jump ahead a bit. They gave her an IV with saline to hydrate her, and something for her nausea. The first doctor that came in (intern?) took the whole history, did and exam, and basically said that given her history of cancer and her age, etc., she would like to do an MRI of the brain because even though the CT scan came back clean, there could be some abnormalities not picked up by the CT, but the MRI would see it. But, they don't do those in the ER, so she'd have to be admitted overnight, and have it done in the morning. Mom didn't like that a whole lot. The intern said she was going to discuss it with her supervising doctor, and the supervising doctor would be in soon.
Well, the supervising doctor completely agreed. They gave her some Valium in her IV, because he said that if it WAS an inner-ear thing, the Valium would help with that. (The intern had mentioned that she did see a scab in my mom's ear from the Q-tip incident, but that it wasn't far enough in the canal to have really caused a problem) If it isn't, it would still calm her down enough to maybe sleep. They also gave her more anti-nausea medication. They got her into a room in the CDU about an hour later, and that's where she is right now. I drove my daddy home, and here I am. I'm exhausted, yet I can't sleep. Holy crap, I just looked at the time! It's now 2:49! I've been sitting her typing for 40 minutes?!?! How could that be?
I have a killer migraine coming on, so I took a couple Advil before I started typing. Maybe they'll kick in enough for me to lie down now. I will, naturally, update tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to send some good juju our way.
