Corina's Catastrophe Timeline
Okay, so for anyone who's interested and hasn't been keeping track, here's how my springtime is going:
March 7th: My 14-year-old brother Juan died of pancreatitis. Corina gets to hang out with the corpse, waiting for the coroner. Mom is a wreck, so Ken and Corina have to take care of every-fucking-thing with the funeral arrangements and such. Corina feels guilty for being a shitty sister. But life must go on...
March 23: My brother's birthday--Mom takes an overdose of pills, we call paramedics. Northern Nevada Medical Center declares she is fine and sends her home. She is adamant that the 16 sedatives she took were not so she could die, but so that she could "visit Purgatory" and "People die and come back all the time and I just wanted to check on Juan". Corina gets to deal with cops, paramedics, a loopy-drugged mom who doesn't want to go to the hospital, and then a doctor who is way too flippant considering the circumstances.
First week of April: Mom goes into West Hills - psychiatric hospital. Corina gets a week off from worrying every second about whether Mom is dead, but has to run errands for the family, who live on the other side of town, take the 12-year-old brother to his band concert and repeatedly deliver contraband such as Pepsi and cigarettes to the funny farm to keep Mom happy. Mom is released after a week, and is still totally miserable.
2nd and 3rd week of April: At some point, Ken's best friend, Al ends up in ICU in piss-poor shape with a mystery lung-tastrophe. Much time is spent cleaning Al's apartment, doing Al's laundry and trying not to burden Ken in any way. Via a message from Reuel on MySpace, Corina finds out that Seth, of the infamous Corina's Livejournal "Seth-isms" died of a heart-attack. Icing on the cake. But wait, there's more... Mom is still morbidly depressed. Corina gets a really nasty case of bronchitis, complete with 101-degree fever. Tobias, Corina's stepdad, goes into the hospital the day that Al gets out of the hospital, with some mystery heart condition. At first we are told that something is wrong with his left ventricle, but 2 days later it is written off as "stress" and he is sent home. While Corina is not too horribly fond of Tobias, his presence and income are more or less necessary to the family, and anything happening to him would be...problematic. But he's fine and Al pulled through.
April 25th: Mom is still moderately suicidal and pretty loopy. She has had six fender-benders in the last 8 weeks or so. She still talks about wanting to die. Social Security tells her that they overpaid Juan 3 years ago, so now they're taking 1/4 of Mom's check every month. Mom has a melt-down. Corina leaves work to take Mom out to breakfast, which seems to help. Corina has also repeatedly taken Mom out to eat, gamble, shop, etc. and bought Mom new clothes, books, DVDs and ...just a ton of crap. If it looks like it'll make Mom feel better, Corina does/buys it, despite the fact that -nothing- really makes Mom happy.
April 29th: After receiving about a half-dozen phone calls from Jose (the 12-year-old brother) that Mom will not wake up, Corina goes over to investigate. Mom is breathing, but, in fact, will not wake up. After much poking and prodding, a very drowsy and confused Mom is dragged out to the couch. The assumption is that she has accidentally taken too much of one of her pills, but since there are not a noticeable number of pills missing, overdose is not suspected. Presumably if 16 sedatives didn't do a thing to her, she can sleep off whatever is currently wrong. Corina is frustrated, but not especially worried when she leaves a sleepy, dopey Mom at 7pm Saturday.
April 30th: Mom won't wake up again. Paramedics are called. Mom's oxygen level is at 30, which is ridiculously low. The ER nurse says she is surprised Mom even made it to the hospital. The best guess anyone has is that Mom got some kind of lung infection and she was loopy and tired from having too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen. Of course, Mom wants to be with Juan, so she told Tobias she didn't need to go to the hospital and that she wasn't sick, and no one figured out until she was basically unconscious for two days. (She'd been sleeping so much from depression that suspicion was not aroused as promptly as it otherwise might have been.) Since Mom won't regain consciousness, Corina gets to decide that since Mom is only 47 and has two kids still in grade school, that a ventilator is an okay idea. No extra heroic measures. She wouldn't want to be a veggie, but if it appears that she will be okay when all is said and done, then please don't kill Mom, thanks. There is mention of "CAT scan" and "Brain Damage" since Mom had such a ridiculously low oxygen level for God-only-knows-how-long. Mom is in ICU on a ventilator, possibly brain-damaged. No one will know if/to what extent Mom has brain damage until she is awake and off the ventilator. Every time she's awake, she coughs and chokes on the ventilator and her oxygen level dips. Corina would like Mom to get better, but is dreading Mom being able to talk again, as there is a strong possibility (basing this on knowing Mom for 26 years) that even though Corina has been miserable and worried sick and just wants her little brothers to have a Mom for awhile, that Mom will be resentful and pop off with something to the effect of "God wanted me to be with Juan and you fucked it all up! You shoulda just let me die!" This grim prospect is also based on a brief back-and-forth with semi-conscious Mom. Mom has almost totally been out of it and sedated. Rarely does she even respond to anything with so much as a hand-squeeze. Today Mom did the "come-hither" gesture. Corina goes over and tries to take her hand. Mom gestures to the tube. Mom has been on a ventilator before and knows damn well what the tube is and what its purpose is. Corina says "Yeah Mom, they've got ya on the tube." Mom nods. Corina says "I know you don't like it and it's not very comfortable, but they have to keep it in for awhile." Mom emphatically shakes her head No. Maybe Corina is reading into this too much, but this was the most lucid Mom had been in days, and it seemed pretty clear. Corina is using this as an object lesson on Why Mom Should Have Listened When Corina and Ken Talked To Her About A Living Will Of Some Sort. If mom wanted to die that much, Mom should have put it on paper. Corina is not a total bitch, and would let Mom go if she were certain to be a veggie or if she was in truly terrible shape. Corina might even be willing to let mom die at age 47 if not for the kids. Corina wants her little brothers to have a mom. Assuming Mom doesn't somehow die or become broccoli, (They don't keep healthy people in ICU, afterall.), Corina will likely never hear the end of this, and will be made to feel guilty for keeping Mom from being with Juan.
Corina is truly incredulous that so much bad crap can happen to one family in such a short period of time. Corina would like a vacation. ...possibly one with Thorazine. Corina will not get that vacation. Corina will keep visiting the hospital, calling the hospital, giving Tobias and the boys rides all over the goddamn place, getting calls from social workers at the hospital asking about "advance directives", arguing with REALLY intrusive/nosy bitches at the loan company about why Mom's car payment will be late, and working at her job, which is it's own little puddle of heaven. Yeah, Corina has pretty fucking well earned a vacation that just ain't comin. Corina is also not on her anti-depressants, and considering this, is quite proud of how well she's held together.
Corina is tired and has slated for tomorrow a full day of work and another awesome evening of hanging out in the ICU. Corina is gonna go shower, eat a cookie and take a valium.
Corina would really like a vacation.
March 7th: My 14-year-old brother Juan died of pancreatitis. Corina gets to hang out with the corpse, waiting for the coroner. Mom is a wreck, so Ken and Corina have to take care of every-fucking-thing with the funeral arrangements and such. Corina feels guilty for being a shitty sister. But life must go on...
March 23: My brother's birthday--Mom takes an overdose of pills, we call paramedics. Northern Nevada Medical Center declares she is fine and sends her home. She is adamant that the 16 sedatives she took were not so she could die, but so that she could "visit Purgatory" and "People die and come back all the time and I just wanted to check on Juan". Corina gets to deal with cops, paramedics, a loopy-drugged mom who doesn't want to go to the hospital, and then a doctor who is way too flippant considering the circumstances.
First week of April: Mom goes into West Hills - psychiatric hospital. Corina gets a week off from worrying every second about whether Mom is dead, but has to run errands for the family, who live on the other side of town, take the 12-year-old brother to his band concert and repeatedly deliver contraband such as Pepsi and cigarettes to the funny farm to keep Mom happy. Mom is released after a week, and is still totally miserable.
2nd and 3rd week of April: At some point, Ken's best friend, Al ends up in ICU in piss-poor shape with a mystery lung-tastrophe. Much time is spent cleaning Al's apartment, doing Al's laundry and trying not to burden Ken in any way. Via a message from Reuel on MySpace, Corina finds out that Seth, of the infamous Corina's Livejournal "Seth-isms" died of a heart-attack. Icing on the cake. But wait, there's more... Mom is still morbidly depressed. Corina gets a really nasty case of bronchitis, complete with 101-degree fever. Tobias, Corina's stepdad, goes into the hospital the day that Al gets out of the hospital, with some mystery heart condition. At first we are told that something is wrong with his left ventricle, but 2 days later it is written off as "stress" and he is sent home. While Corina is not too horribly fond of Tobias, his presence and income are more or less necessary to the family, and anything happening to him would be...problematic. But he's fine and Al pulled through.
April 25th: Mom is still moderately suicidal and pretty loopy. She has had six fender-benders in the last 8 weeks or so. She still talks about wanting to die. Social Security tells her that they overpaid Juan 3 years ago, so now they're taking 1/4 of Mom's check every month. Mom has a melt-down. Corina leaves work to take Mom out to breakfast, which seems to help. Corina has also repeatedly taken Mom out to eat, gamble, shop, etc. and bought Mom new clothes, books, DVDs and ...just a ton of crap. If it looks like it'll make Mom feel better, Corina does/buys it, despite the fact that -nothing- really makes Mom happy.
April 29th: After receiving about a half-dozen phone calls from Jose (the 12-year-old brother) that Mom will not wake up, Corina goes over to investigate. Mom is breathing, but, in fact, will not wake up. After much poking and prodding, a very drowsy and confused Mom is dragged out to the couch. The assumption is that she has accidentally taken too much of one of her pills, but since there are not a noticeable number of pills missing, overdose is not suspected. Presumably if 16 sedatives didn't do a thing to her, she can sleep off whatever is currently wrong. Corina is frustrated, but not especially worried when she leaves a sleepy, dopey Mom at 7pm Saturday.
April 30th: Mom won't wake up again. Paramedics are called. Mom's oxygen level is at 30, which is ridiculously low. The ER nurse says she is surprised Mom even made it to the hospital. The best guess anyone has is that Mom got some kind of lung infection and she was loopy and tired from having too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen. Of course, Mom wants to be with Juan, so she told Tobias she didn't need to go to the hospital and that she wasn't sick, and no one figured out until she was basically unconscious for two days. (She'd been sleeping so much from depression that suspicion was not aroused as promptly as it otherwise might have been.) Since Mom won't regain consciousness, Corina gets to decide that since Mom is only 47 and has two kids still in grade school, that a ventilator is an okay idea. No extra heroic measures. She wouldn't want to be a veggie, but if it appears that she will be okay when all is said and done, then please don't kill Mom, thanks. There is mention of "CAT scan" and "Brain Damage" since Mom had such a ridiculously low oxygen level for God-only-knows-how-long. Mom is in ICU on a ventilator, possibly brain-damaged. No one will know if/to what extent Mom has brain damage until she is awake and off the ventilator. Every time she's awake, she coughs and chokes on the ventilator and her oxygen level dips. Corina would like Mom to get better, but is dreading Mom being able to talk again, as there is a strong possibility (basing this on knowing Mom for 26 years) that even though Corina has been miserable and worried sick and just wants her little brothers to have a Mom for awhile, that Mom will be resentful and pop off with something to the effect of "God wanted me to be with Juan and you fucked it all up! You shoulda just let me die!" This grim prospect is also based on a brief back-and-forth with semi-conscious Mom. Mom has almost totally been out of it and sedated. Rarely does she even respond to anything with so much as a hand-squeeze. Today Mom did the "come-hither" gesture. Corina goes over and tries to take her hand. Mom gestures to the tube. Mom has been on a ventilator before and knows damn well what the tube is and what its purpose is. Corina says "Yeah Mom, they've got ya on the tube." Mom nods. Corina says "I know you don't like it and it's not very comfortable, but they have to keep it in for awhile." Mom emphatically shakes her head No. Maybe Corina is reading into this too much, but this was the most lucid Mom had been in days, and it seemed pretty clear. Corina is using this as an object lesson on Why Mom Should Have Listened When Corina and Ken Talked To Her About A Living Will Of Some Sort. If mom wanted to die that much, Mom should have put it on paper. Corina is not a total bitch, and would let Mom go if she were certain to be a veggie or if she was in truly terrible shape. Corina might even be willing to let mom die at age 47 if not for the kids. Corina wants her little brothers to have a mom. Assuming Mom doesn't somehow die or become broccoli, (They don't keep healthy people in ICU, afterall.), Corina will likely never hear the end of this, and will be made to feel guilty for keeping Mom from being with Juan.
Corina is truly incredulous that so much bad crap can happen to one family in such a short period of time. Corina would like a vacation. ...possibly one with Thorazine. Corina will not get that vacation. Corina will keep visiting the hospital, calling the hospital, giving Tobias and the boys rides all over the goddamn place, getting calls from social workers at the hospital asking about "advance directives", arguing with REALLY intrusive/nosy bitches at the loan company about why Mom's car payment will be late, and working at her job, which is it's own little puddle of heaven. Yeah, Corina has pretty fucking well earned a vacation that just ain't comin. Corina is also not on her anti-depressants, and considering this, is quite proud of how well she's held together.
Corina is tired and has slated for tomorrow a full day of work and another awesome evening of hanging out in the ICU. Corina is gonna go shower, eat a cookie and take a valium.
Corina would really like a vacation.