Bit of a Scare

Dad calls me at 6:00am yesterday. I honestly didn't think about it - Sister said it freaked her out immediately. I'm generally oblivious at 6:00am. Well, anway, Dad says "I took your mom to the ER this morning - just a bit of a heart thing." Well now I'm awake! He told me they were transferring her to the hospital an hour away from my hometown (two hours away from my now-town) because the doctors there were more specialized. I asked if he thought I should go to the hospital and he said "Oh, no - carry on with business as usual."

Now, my dear darling father is terrible at letting you know about serious things. Mom was in the ER a few months ago and none of the kids knew until THREE DAYS LATER. So I had no idea how serious this was. I sent Sister a text along the lines of "What are your plans with this Mom thing? Should we go see her? Did you get more from Dad than 'It's a heart thing'?" Sister calls me about 30 minutes later almost in tears. She's talked to Mama N who talked to our parents' pastor who had actually seen Mom in the ER. He said she didn't look good at all and they were originally planning on airlifting her, but it was too foggy.

So of course we decide to go.

Apparently she felt bad all day on Wednesday and noticed her blood pressure was a little high before she went to bed (she's been monitoring it for her Primary Care doctor). She woke up with a bad headache around 4:00am and took some medicine. At some point she stopped being able to breathe. So they finally decided she should probably go to the ER. And not tell their children for about two hours. 8P

By the time we get there (the story could be much longer and less interesting - you're welcome) Mom is feeling much better. They have her on oxygen and she's able to breathe and talk without any problems. They determined she had fluid on her lungs. Sister was guessing (I'm not sure if a doctor every confirmed this) that Mom had had fluid on her lungs for at least a couple of months - Mom has had trouble sleeping for awhile.

We sit around all day and finally a doctor comes in. He listens to her lungs and asks her a bajillion questions. He tells her the fluid is the main concern - her inability to breathe probably caused her to panic and then raised her blood pressure. They need to figure out what caused the fluid and she will most definitely be in the hospital all weekend. Then Sister, Dad, and I all leave. Dad has to go pick up some clothes and stuff for Mom and Sister and I need to get back home.

On our way home, Mama N calls us - another doctor came in and checked Mom out. He said the high blood pressure strained her heart and caused fluid to build up on her lungs, so all they need to do is straighten out her blood pressure and she should be fine. She should be able to go home today (Friday, that is). So...who's right? Mom's going with Doc #2, because she wants to come home. :)

They did an echocardiogram on her this morning but I don't think they have the results back. I haven't heard anything, anyway. So still no work on if she's going to be in the hospital another day. Mom's feeling fine, though. Said she thinks she's all back to normal. Which, with Mom, "back to normal" still isn't all that great. ;)

Oh, hey - I just realized tonight is homecoming at my old high school. I was going to go to that. Mmm....I don't think I am anymore.