Mum's ER Adventure

Friday morning was clipping along for me with John Morgan Seminars, and then I got this email from Mum:

If you get a minute would you mind giving Ruth a call to see if she could pop over for a minute or two.This is not a ladder 99 alarm but I think I need a little something .Thanks L.M.

Well, as it turns out, it was an emergency. She was breathless, her heart was racing and had been since 2 a.m. and she emailed me at 9:37 a.m.  Gah!!!  My brother was in his office, right there. So I called him:

Me: Have you seen Mum this morning?
Atlasta: Yeah, I poked my head in but she was napping on the sofa.
Me: You better hope she was just napping!

And then I told him about the email she sent me. Here's the thing: Mum is strong. She can run circles around me. She wields a pick ax & pumps iron at the gym 3 times a week. But Bolivia was not a good experience. Altitude sickness hit her hard and she had a hard time recovering. She was getting winded going up stairs. So we made an appointment with a cardiologist, but Friday morning it became apparent that she couldn't wait & needed to go to the ER.

Atlasta drove us to St. Mary's:

 

I got to the front desk & said, "HEART. We need a doctor NOW." We got her in a room. The paramedic said, "I was going to put someone else in that room but something told me to wait, and then you came in." Thank you.

Mum got hooked up to monitors and widgety-things. A stream of people came in & were amazed that she'd never had surgery, never taken medications, never had a hospital visit. It was a v. short health history! When the doctor arrived, he asked Mum how she was doing. "Oh, fine," she said. "No, Mum. You are not fine! Tell him why you're here."

Brother Atlasta trolling thru a cabinet.

So long story short (too late!) she was admitted into the hospital, and we got her settled into a room.

Atlasta plotting and scheming . . . 

The good news is that she doesn't need surgery; she's on a blood thinner & something else. Once she got an IV and the drugs started to work & her b.p. came down and her heart beat slowed down, she started looking a lot better. But she stayed the night in the hospital. This was the board the nurses communicate on & you can prolly tell which part Atlasta & Ruth added:

"World Domination" & "No Midgets!" courtesy of Atlasta.

The nurses were all laughing about it. I didn't add anything until the next day when I put, Queen Anne for "Preferred Name." Haha   

Ruth & I went in to see her the next morning & Mum said, "They say I can leave this afternoon." When the nurse came in, I asked if they were going to perform some sort of assessment before they let her go. "Make her run around the hospital. Don't take her word for it. She lies." [Eye roll from Mum] The nurse assured me that they wouldn't let her go if she wasn't well enough. Good.

Ruth asked Mum what she learned from this experience. "Well, I guess that I'm not invincible." I said, "Yes, Mum. You're vincible. What else?"  While Mum was hemming & hawing, Ruth said, "You know, Mum. There's a fine line between stoic and stupid." Yes, such a fine line.  

So we had the cardiologist appointment yesterday. The doctor says she needs to stay on the meds, but she's well enough to start back to the gym if she wants. Or wield a pick ax. You know. As you do. So glad you're OK, Mum!