A Trip to the ER

An early Sunday morning call from Josie:  "Hi, Clare, it's Mom. The pain is worse... It won't go away! What should I do?"

She had been having occasional pain in her back for a week or so...nagging stuff that was more annoying than anything else. Her visiting nurse suggested that she call the Doctor and make an appointment to have it checked out.   

"But I TRIED!" she lamented when I asked if she had done so. "Those darn phone message thingies are so confusing!"

I must admit she was right this time.  When I tried to make an appointment for Dad (same office, a few days before that), I never did speak to a human being.  And not until I left a scathing message berating them for  'blowing-off Senior Citizens'  did anyone return my calls. 

Now, Josie is not one for scathing anyone - and a machine is no exception! - so it was up to me to get the job done.  Several hours after I left a not-so-polite message, the receptionist there called to inform me that the next opening they had was in April.

I greedily took the appointment.

This was last Thursday.

Talked to her Friday, she seemed OK..Sunday morning, she was panicky.  "I don't know what it is! It hurts in my chest now..."

"Call 911, Mom."

"Oh, no! I don't need them!  It's not that bad! Would you take me to the Emergency room?"

"No, I am too far away...you need help now, Call 911.  I'm hanging up now so you can call them".

So who does she call?  My brother, Steve. Then she called me back. "Steven is going to take me", she says, with that Catholic Guilt tone she employs every so often. "Can you call Anthony and tell him not to pick Dad and me up for Auntie Kay's birthday party?"

???

What birthday party? I didn't know you had plans to go to Bristol today. I didn't know that Anthony was coming to take you there. Which Anthony?  Big or Little?  What the hell is going on??? What?  What?  What???

???

As these thoughts are racing through my head, I hear myself saying "OK, Ma, I'll call Anthony for you."

Naturally I called the wrong Anthony.  Shoulda called "Little".

 *****************

Steve picked her up just after 9am.
By 10 o'clock,
      after I got through calling all the "Anthonys' in the Family,
      and explaining what was going on to them, 
      and talking to Steve, (to find out which hospital he took her to)
      and finding out that Dad decided not to go with them,
      and calling Dad to see if he is OK...
Jerry and I finally make our way to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital Emergency Room, where we find Mom sitting on a stretcher in the hallway, grinning from ear to ear.

She was so happy we came to "Visit" her!!!

*******************

Mom sat in that hallway ALL DAY.  Now and again they would take her away:  for a chest x-ray, to have blood drawn, to get 'electroded' for an EKG, for a full body CT Scan, and lastly to another "photography studio" for a pic of her lungs. But each time they would bring her right back to that spot in the hall, with a big   H1 attached to her stretcher, to identify her.

Now, I understand that they were busy.
I watched ambulance after ambulance drive up to the doors, wheel in a patient (or, in one instance, multiple patients suffering from smoke inhalation when a fire struck their nursing home).
I know they are understaffed and overworked.
I know that they considered Mom a 'Low Risk" case.
I know that the 21 beds in their ER were full, and other patients also shared the hallway with my Mother.
I know all these things.

But, nearly 9 hours in a hallway with no privacy at all is a bit much to take.

Of course, Mom never complained ...except about the pain. She was her usual polite self, not wanting to bother the  'nice nurses' for anything. I am the one who is livid - they didn't treat "My Mommy" with kid gloves.

***************************

We are thrilled and thankful that Josie is OK.
(She's actually better than OK.  Hell, she'll probably outlive me!)
It is arthritis in her spine that is causing the discomfort, and she is being treated for that as we speak.

So, all is well.
I will recover.


Love to all,
xoxoxo, clare