Mom Update, as requested

Late last week they changed her Cardiovert from Monday to Wed. (for unknown reasons) - they should have left it on Monday.

About 11:30 yesterday, Mom was feeling so bad & her heart rate was so erratic, that she drove herself to the local urgent care facility. It must be the RN mentality, it didn't even occur to her to call an ambulance. OY! I found out about it all when Dad called me to drive him so he would be able to drive Mom's car home.

We arrived at the window of the urgent care area. After a few minutes one of the "extremely busy" nurses at the desk looked up and and droned her mantra "You need to be seen? Please sign the sheet and have a seat." Dad leaned in "I'm here to see Sharfa's Mom". Slightly annoyed at the nurses tone with us, I muttered "Bitch" under my breath. Dad muttered "Don't fall over". I didn't understand his meaning until the locked door was opened by a woman with the biggest bosom I had ever seen. She was the definition of an "apple" figure. She gave new meaning to the term "barrel chested". The exertion of moving her large frame from the desk to the door showed in her flushed face.

We were directed to the last room on the left. Mom was curled up, covered with blankets and on nasal O2. She looked pale and fragile to me. She sat up when we entered and she pointed out the heart monitor which switched back and forth from her pulse to heart rate. It looked like a slot machine run amuck. The numbers flashed different every time: 161, 89, 142, 93, 130......Her breath was shallow and short.

We got the lowdown on what was going on. They were waiting to hear back from Mass General to see if she could be a direct admit. Going through Emergency, they would have to repeat everything she had already been through at Urgent Care. A misnomer if there ever was one. If you've ever seen ER, this was the opposite of that. Things seemed to move in slow motion, and I worry that Big Barbie would have a heart attack if she ever had to do anything urgently.

Mom put her hand to her forehead "Fuck! It isn't going to be much of a Christmas". This is how my parents are. Here is my Mother, lying in a hospital bed with her heart racing like Seabiscuit, and she's worried about all the shopping she hasn't been able to do. Worried about there not being enough presents under the tree, worried about everyone else. "Screw Christmas" my Dad and I both said. "You'll get the Convert done tomorrow and feel like your old self" Said Dad. "I hope so" Mom whispered.

We joked and laughed. It help relieve some of the tension. We heard the on call Dr. on the phone with Mass General and the three of us leaned towards the door - trying to eavesdrop on what was being said. "Lasix, heart normal size....lungs" Only bits and pieces could be heard. Mom was worried about having to go into Boston by ambulance, worried about the exorbitant charge they nail you with. "So what" I said "They need to monitor you and have everything handy should something happen. Daddy certainly can't plug you into the car radio for monitoring".

Mom and Dad finally told me to go home, they didn't know how much longer it would be. Everything was under control and I had a sick kid (home from school) at home. Dad called me later. They took her in by ambulance, he went home and she would call when she got settled. There wasn't much of anything he could do anyway.

Dad will be heading there after working a bit this morning. He'll keep me posted.

I'm home with the sick kid again. He's feeling better but still has the stuffy head, sore throat, achy, waking up every hour thing. Too bad - I made a very pretty Tiramisu for the staff Christmas party today.

I told my Dad we should just forget Christmas. "Let's just sit around, eat all day and have a movie marathon, or like Chunks suggested play Scrabble" Sounds like a plan to me.

I know Mom is really scared, even though she tried to hide it. Strangely though, I'm not. I know everything is going to be OK. I'll be in the kitchen, baking a few hundred cookies and breads and treats, if you need me.

I'll post more as I hear.