300 miles away
Well, crap. The only thing worse than taking your mother to the hospital is getting a call from your brother at midnight saying that he took her to the hospital. And they're 300 miles away.
Brother D (the younger) noticed drooping on the side of her face, slurred and confused speech. She fell twice earlier in the day, but didn't have the EMTs who picked her up take her to the hospital because she thought the problem was just her back spasms. For which she is taking vicodin and something else I don't remember. He told her, "Make sense, or I'm taking you to the hospital."
If anyone would notice stroke symptom, he sure would. He'd been through it so many times with our dad.
There was a confused round of telephone tag, during which I also spoke with Brother B (the elder) and our Aunt the Nurse, Mum's closest sister (by age and geography). Who has helped my mother through many a family health crisis and who was also helpful to me by phone when Mum was here and in the hospital.
Brother D called back at 2 AM to report that she would have an MRI in the morning to rule out/confirm stroke. He passed the phone to my mother so that she could speak to me. She was more like herself than I expected but still kind of confused.
She said they needed someone to sign to admit her. If she can't sign for herself then the healthcare power of attny is Brother B. Who is on his way over as of 8:30 AM. Just spoke with Aunt Nurse, who said that she was still in the ER. Crap. She wasn't too incapacitated to admit herself when she had the heart attack.
I want to go up, but I want to know what is going on first. And I don't want to leave my baby. Which means getting accommodations for the whole family. Can't stay in her house, it's too awful there. If I have to go up more than once, perhaps there are people we can impose on.
She said that she was cat-sitting when last I spoke with her on Saturday. I wonder for how long?
So very tired. I was already having the start of a very poor night's sleep when Brother D called. Freaking out about my inability to sleep, actually.
Gah.
I'm not getting ready for work (I did call), I'm just waiting by the phone. Should probably eat. Something needs to improve my ability to problem-solve. Adrenaline alone won't do.
Brother D (the younger) noticed drooping on the side of her face, slurred and confused speech. She fell twice earlier in the day, but didn't have the EMTs who picked her up take her to the hospital because she thought the problem was just her back spasms. For which she is taking vicodin and something else I don't remember. He told her, "Make sense, or I'm taking you to the hospital."
If anyone would notice stroke symptom, he sure would. He'd been through it so many times with our dad.
There was a confused round of telephone tag, during which I also spoke with Brother B (the elder) and our Aunt the Nurse, Mum's closest sister (by age and geography). Who has helped my mother through many a family health crisis and who was also helpful to me by phone when Mum was here and in the hospital.
Brother D called back at 2 AM to report that she would have an MRI in the morning to rule out/confirm stroke. He passed the phone to my mother so that she could speak to me. She was more like herself than I expected but still kind of confused.
She said they needed someone to sign to admit her. If she can't sign for herself then the healthcare power of attny is Brother B. Who is on his way over as of 8:30 AM. Just spoke with Aunt Nurse, who said that she was still in the ER. Crap. She wasn't too incapacitated to admit herself when she had the heart attack.
I want to go up, but I want to know what is going on first. And I don't want to leave my baby. Which means getting accommodations for the whole family. Can't stay in her house, it's too awful there. If I have to go up more than once, perhaps there are people we can impose on.
She said that she was cat-sitting when last I spoke with her on Saturday. I wonder for how long?
So very tired. I was already having the start of a very poor night's sleep when Brother D called. Freaking out about my inability to sleep, actually.
Gah.
I'm not getting ready for work (I did call), I'm just waiting by the phone. Should probably eat. Something needs to improve my ability to problem-solve. Adrenaline alone won't do.