Tomorrow...

(This is a follow-up to the post, "Is it happening all over again?" So read that first if you haven't already!)

Tomorrow (April 5th) my mom is going to find out the results of the tests that her endocrinologist had run on her about a week and a half ago. Her appointment is for 7:30am!!! So I'm going to have to get up at like 5am or something. It's almost midnight, I accidentally overslept until almost 1:30pm today (I think the time change caught up with me, I went to bed late, and had a hard day). I fell asleep on the couch for about an hour around 7:30pm tonight...why don't I just stay up until it's time to go? I feel like I never get enough sleep.

Anyway, I am very nervous. I've been looking up stuff on the 'net about what could have possibly caused my mom's calcium levels to go up, and it doesn't look good. Like I said, the two main reasons were kidney problems or thyroid problems. Since she's had trouble with her kidneys so recently, I'm worried that the culprit is the OTHER kidney (if you've been keeping up, she had one removed a few months ago). That would NOT be good.

I found an article on Wikipedia from which I deduced that my mom probably has/had hypercalcemia, meaning high calcium. This snippet is interesting because my mom had most of these symptoms when she was sick, before and during her stay at the hospital...

"Hypercalcemia per se can result in fatigue, depression, confusion, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, or increased urination; if it is chronic it can result in urinary calculi (renal stones or bladder stones). Abnormal heart rhythms can result, and an EKG finding of a short QT interval suggests hypercalcemia.

Symptoms are more common at high calcium levels (12.0 mg/dL or 3 mmol/l). Severe hypercalcemia (above 15-16 mg/dL or 3.75-4 mmol/l) is considered a medical emergency: at these levels, coma and cardiac arrest can result. (if you want to see more, the article is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercalcemia)."

She doesn't have any of these symptoms now, however. The Wikipedia entry also said that the "normal" calcium levels are between 9 to 10.5, and when my mom and I last saw the endo., he said my mom was at 10.5. So huh? But you never know who writes the stuff on Wikipedia I guess.

Just a short update...in terms of her wounds, they are about the same. However, her ability to walk is improving greatly. A physical therapist is now coming to see her about 3 times a week and she is getting my mom close to walking with a cane! My mom is currently still walking with a walker. The therapist gave her a booklet with leg/feet exercises and she's been keeping up on those, which I think has really helped. For the past week or so, she and her therapist have been planning to go for a walk, but it has been raining for at least a week or so now.

I am so proud of my mom though. I can tell she is trying as hard as she can to be able to walk on her own again. Sometimes I can see that she is becoming discouraged and feels like there are certain exercises she can't do, but I suppose that's "normal." The thing is, what works best is "baby steps" and she's trying to take "elephant steps," and tends to get discouraged when she can't do something. I keep having to remind her of that; even if she does a little each day, it's better than doing nothing at all, and each of those little steps gradually leads up to the goal. Okay, now I feel like that weird motivational speaker guy.

So in those regards she is doing well.

Alright, I guess that's about all I have to report. Please wish us luck for tomorrow!