Given she had passed out (she believes it was for
twenty minutes) they took catscans of her head and so had to wait to ensure it
wasn’t a stroke. It wasn’t but since
this passing out seems to happen regularly—every few months—they held her for a
few days to monitor her heart and blood pressure. Now my mother’s heart is actually in
excellent shape for her age. In the past
year she’s had a stress test and an echocardiogram, all of which shows a
remarkably strong heart. Her latest
cholesterol level is an astounding 163. But
what seems to be her problem is an unusually low heart rate. It’s always been in the fifties, and while
she was hooked up to the monitor at the hospital I saw it drop to 49. Six years ago she was also diagnosed with NeurocardiogenicSyncope, which makes her faint when she bends over and rises really fast.
So at the hospital the talk seemed to lead that she
would need a pacemaker. But ultimately they
decided she didn’t need it and just gave her an additional medicine for Orthostatic hypotension.
But here’s the kicker. After
spending three days in the emergency room on an ER bed, she developed back
spasms which prevented her from walking.
She couldn’t put her feet down on the ground. She was ready to be released but there was no
way for her to take care of herself by herself.
They wanted her to go to a rehab facility, which is nothing more than a
nursing home. I couldn’t argue against
it, and neither could she, but she was furious.
They actually went through with making arrangements.
When I tell you she
was mad, that is an understatement. A nursing
home is her worst fear. I couldn’t go
into her room without her cursing me. Other
than the curses, she refused to speak to me.
I finally had to leave. Actually
it’s my sins coming back to haunt me. At
times when my mother in her advanced years would do something that risked her well
being, I threatened to have her put in a nursing home. Now I didn’t really mean it. It was just a means to get her to be more
cautious, and for the most part she understood that. But at the hospital she claimed I finally got
my wish to have her put away. God
certainly was getting back at me.
Luckily the
painkillers the next day enabled her to walk with a walker, and given I
promised to stay with her, they released her to her home. So I’ve been there for a few days, and slowly
her back has been getting better. She’ll
have a nurse coming over to check on her and a physical therapist. Finally I can get back to work. Anyway, without getting into more details,
that’s the story.
Through it all Matthew
had a fun Halloween. He went in a
Captain America costume. He looked
great. Here are some pictures.
