using technology to my advantage

After spending the greater part of the past three days in the hospital and on the telephone (or so it seems) I have chosen--at Charlotte's suggestion--to update my family on my mother's health via blogging. Ah--the wonders of the modern age!

Mom came home from the hospital late this afternoon, after a three-day/two-night stay. She arrived at the Emergency Room early Sunday afternoon via ambulance (her second trip to the ER in two days) to be treated for intense pelvic pain and also heart pain. Our first trip on Friday morning was rather unproductive. I highly recommend arriving by ambulance and having heart trauma if you want to move to the front of the ER queue and be treated in a timely manner.

After x-rays and an MRI, all the "bad" things have been ruled out, i.e., cancerous growths, infection, etc. Thankfully, surgery is not the recommended course of treatment for mom, as I don't think she could stand to go through another major surgery. Of course, neither do I think she could stand to continue living in the extreme, intense pain she has been in. While in the hospital she was treated with high-end pain killers and muscle relaxants and was completely immobile in bed. She feels much better now, though still in a bit of pain and rather worn out.

The primary care doctor is referring us to a Pain Specialist (I didn't know there were such titled doctors--shouldn't they all be pain specialists?) who is also an anesthesiologist. He will likely administer an epidural dose of cortisone, which is proven effective in treating her type of pain. I have made the necessary calls to get this plan in motion and am waiting to hear from her cardiologist, who also has to sign off on the plan. Hopefully she will receive this treatment sometime next week. Meanwhile, with adequate rest and medication (not to mention the replacement of the hideous hospital gown with cute satin pajamas) she will hopefully be moderately comfortable until then.

As always, her spirits are good, her attitude upbeat, and her humor in-tact. She was a popular patient on her floor. Dad is the most relieved to have her home, as he seems quite lost without her constant presence.

I actually had the presence of mind to pack along my camera this morning to the hospital, planning to take a few photos for documentation purposes. I took a picture of her sweet, gnarled little hands with the IV inserted--for a melodramatic effect. I was then planning to follow with a picture--at home--of Mom and Dad's hands together, as they are often to be found holding hands for comfort's sake. Sadly (very, very sadly) when I was packing up her belongings today in the hospital room and heading down to bring Dad's car around to pick her up, I found--much to my horrified dismay--that the almost-full water bottle I had tossed into my my purse at the last minute did not have the lid fastened on tightly. The entire contents of my large black-patent bag were soaked through, including my camera, which now flickers and sputters when turned on. I just can't talk about that any more right now.

I'll keep you posted on her progress. Thanks for all your love and prayers--I really appreciate the strength I feel from you and I know Mom does, too.