Huge Update - Break Out the Coffee!!!

Oh wow. Where do I begin? At the beginning I guess.

I have been wanting to write this for SO long, and something has always gotten in the way, so its probably going to be SO LONG! The things getting in the way were mostly errands for my parents, errands for myself, migraines, fatigue, feeling under the weather, and the occasional FUN activity. Yes, I do go out for fun now and then.

I have a lot to tell, probably spanning over 2 weeks. I don't want to make this like a timeline of whats been up but then again I don't know how else to do it. And I don't want this to be like my mom's hospital journal. Okay, I'll just shut up and write.

A VERY LONG DAY

Alright, first an update on my mom. She has been doing well and is pretty much walking without her walker most of the time! She only uses it in the mornings when she's stiff. However, she has had some pains that concerned us so we took her to the doctor. She had some pain and swelling around her abdominal area. So the doctor ordered a CT scan for my mom.

On the 20th of June my mom went in for the CT scan. The night before she was to drink one bottle of barium (yuck!) and then another one an hour before the test. She was also injected with contrast fluid, which has iodine in it, before she had the scan done.

Early the next morning, I got a call from my mom's visiting nurse. Apparently, my mom had a reaction to the dye. She looked like she fell asleep in the sun...VERY red, and was itching all over. The nurse contacted my mom's doctor and they both wanted us to take her to the ER.

The ER. Yeah. That was fun. We got there around 11-11:30am and waited for maybe 30-45 mins. in the waiting room. My mom's nurse had called ahead to tell the ER that we were coming. I was nervous that I was going to be nervous (haha) because I often feel or am panicky at hospitals. However, since my mom got sick back in January and was in the hospital for weeks, I've been used to them and kept telling myself I'd be okay. And I was.

Until...there was this lady walking around with one those puke bag thingies. My mom and I were sitting down and she walked right past us making coughing sounds. UGH! Those of you who know about my phobia of vomiting will understand how I felt I'm sure. Then she went to sit back down in a seat which was near us, so we moved across the room, as far away as we could. Then she proceeded to walk around the ER and ended up on OUR side of the room. She stood against a wall very close to where we were sitting. I was like, WTF? Why can't she stay in her seat? I know sometimes walking around helps but damn! Don't spread your germs around woman! Was she following me around or something?

I got really upset and called Jeff. He was trying to calm me down and I started crying. He couldn't come over b/c he was going out of town with his work group. After I got off of the phone, the man next to me asked me if I'd like him to say a prayer for me. I told him no, that I was just upset because people vomiting really bothers me. So he asked me if I wanted one of those bags. I told him NO, I don't need to vomit, I'm just afraid when others around me do it! So then I sorta sat there holding my breath every time she went by, while listening to the man next to me telling whoever was sitting next to him how he was saved and how much more fulfilling his life was since hes been saved. Okay so I'm not religious AT ALL but it was interesting to listen to all of his beliefs or whatever, and it kept my mind off pukey lady.

When we finally got called back and my mom got a room, it didn't take long for someone to come in and check her out. The doctors and physicians assistants, etc., were all amazed by how red she was. They first hooked her up to an IV to get some Benadryl into her bloodstream. I had to stand outside the room while the P.A. did that. I was glad. My poor mom. She was all read and puffy from the allergic reaction, had just had an IV in her the day before, and she was being literally poked and prodded to find a good vein. Finally, after no success, the P.A. had to use a vein in her foot. OUCH!

I had to go to the bathroom, so I asked a hospital employee where one was located. It was one of those one person at a time bathrooms, and it was occupied. Guess who came out? PUKEY LADY!!! And she had that, I just threw up kind of look on her face. So I didn't go to the bathroom. And this gets even better. Pukey lady's room was around the corner from us, and we could hear her. More like coughing sounds than puking sounds though. Yes. This was just the icing on top of the cake. It's making me nauseous just thinking about it.

Then not too long after that, a woman came in to draw blood. The doctors were concerned about her calcium level because it was high again, and about her thyroid levels. Outside the door I went. Again it was hard for her to find a vein but she somehow managed to get 4 vials of blood. I could hear my mom saying ouch a lot, which made me tense up. What I am bothered about now is that we have not heard the results of those tests OR the CT tests as of yet.

Anyway, then we just had doctors and nurses coming in and out. At one point, the doctor who treated her when she was in the hospital came down to see her to see how she was doing. I thought that was cool. He's not an ER doc so he must have been notified that she was there.

We were in there for what seemed like forever. We pretty much were. Then I got cold and instead of asserting myself and asking for a blanket, I just found a sheet and tried to cuddle up with it the best I could in the hard plastic chair on which I was sitting.

After 1 or 2 bags of Benadryl were IV'd into my moms blood, they gave her two bags of saline. When the nurse came in to replace the empty bag with a new bag of saline, she said as soon as that bag was empty, she could leave as long as the doctor was okay with it. This went back and forth...no, it says on the chart that we're going to admit you...actually, you're going to get to leave, etc. The doctor called the endocrinologist who treats her and I guess they both decided she could go home. So after sitting there and watching each drip of the saline in the IV drop, it was finally empty and we got to leave. The doctor gave my mom a prescription for 4 meds and instructions to follow up with her endocrinologist and primary doctor, and we were off.

I really don't know how I got through such a long day. I mean, even once I got my mom home, I was like, I spent NINE HOURS at the ER, most of the time sitting in the ER hospital room, and I felt like...it was just hard to reconcile with myself that I did. I kept thinking, what did I do all that time? How did I not go crazy being there all that time?

THE DOCTORS

My mom saw her endocrinologist on the 23rd. He said that her calcium level results from when she was in the hospital were somewhat elevated. He asked all of the usual questions and concluded that my mom was healthy enough to get her thyroid removed! Scary! No more operations!

She then saw her primary care physician on the 27th. My mom was not feeling too much better allergy-itch wise, so the doctor prescribed her some stronger doses of medication, and she's doing much better now. I didn't even notice her itching today (the 5th of July) actually. Anyway, he said she seemed like she was healthy enough to get her thyroid removed, but that she should see an ear nose, and throat specialist, (ENT) who she is going to see next week, to make sure everything is okay. She has also been having some trouble with hoarseness for a very long time, so she's getting that checked out as well.

THE PROBLEMS NEVER END

During the week of the 24th, my parents got a letter from a towing company saying that there was a lien on their car...that it was found and towed to their facility, and that they owed some fees, along with $25 a day for storage. The thing is they haven't owned the car for 2 years. My dad sold it two years ago but didn't bother to get any contact info or go through the DMV with the transfer of liability or anything. So he was the person on file as the owner; the person responsible for the payments. His options were to do nothing and hope it didn't come back to bite him in the ass, to pick it up and pay the fees, or to wait until it got sold at an auction on July 20th and hope the sale cost (if it got sold) would be higher than what they already owed. Totally impossible since the car would continue to accumulate $25 a day until the 20th. So guess who got to deal with all of this? Of course, yours truly.

I called the towing service and the person I talked to said to find a release of liability and then we would be okay. My mom couldn't find one. So I called the towing company back and said that we couldn't find a release of liability form so we reluctantly were going to have to pay the fees it had accumulated and probably donate it (we had no idea what shape it is in). The guy I talked to said he didn't think we should do that and we should go to the DMV and hope they have something on file. So we went down there and for once we had good luck. Though they didn't have anything on file for my dad selling the car to the person he sold it to, apparently the person he sold it to sold it to someone else, so BINGO! My dad was not shown as the registered owner. I still have to fax that info to the towing company. Yes, not usually characteristic of me, but there are things about which I do procrastinate, and this is one of them. So, problem solved (hopefully this will be what they need). This sounds like no biggie but probably took a week or so to finally fix, after numerous phone calls and bouts of frustration.

The bright side of that day (the one at the DMV) was the Fiona Apple concert that evening, about which I have already posted.

IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE

My parents air conditioner has not worked for years and I don't know how they stood the hot CA Central Valley Heat for so long. But when my mom got her allergic rash, they finally decided to get it fixed. We were in the middle of an almost week-long heat spell in which temps were around 100 to 106. So I had to set that up and make sure I was there on the day the AC repairman came. I pretty much just looked in the phone book and found one with a senior discount and $150 coupon if a new install was necessary. So I called and the guy sounded very nice. We had an appt for the next morning. Easy enough.

AC guy came right on time, was very nice, and not bad looking. I am not going to get into the particulars of what was wrong with the AC, but the appt. was for 11am and he did not finish until 3pm. Ugh. All that time at my parents hot house with a fan blowing on my face. I took my laptop over and was showing my mom various stuff on the Internet and trying to teach her the lingo. Yeah. That was easy. It's like a completely different language.

Anyway, the guy took off without any of us noticing and after me finally starting to worry, I called the guy and he said he was just on his way back over. I had stupidly gave him my home phone number but forgot to give him my cell number (I'd rather he call me than my parents). The cool thing about this guy though is that he came out and looked the actual AC unit and said it was a good brand and he worked with those all the time. He asked what the problem was and I explained to the best of my ability. He said he thought I told him we needed a new install but I told him that we would only want that if it were necessary. He said that the unit looked fine and he was not going to try to talk us into installing a new one, which many AC repairmen do. So all is well with the AC now and at a very good price. Anyone here in CA who needs AC repair, I highly recommend him so if you need an AC guy, I can give you the details! He seems very honest and fair.

I AM BORING

So nothing exciting on the 4th. Jeff went to his dad's house and they had a barbecue. I stayed home with a headache and upset stomach. What else is new? The whole day was pretty crappy. I didn't sleep well the night before and after getting up in the early afternoon (no later than 12pm) I ate, did some computer stuff, and then fell asleep on the couch for hours. After Jeff took off for his dads around 5pm, I woke up, took a shower, did some stuff on the computer, started to feel exhausted, and fell asleep again. Happy 4th of July! Jeff and I have yet to do anything fun on the 4th of July in the 8.8 years we've been together.

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

My dad. His memory is getting really bad and I have set up an appt. with his primary doctor. Here are examples: he still asks my mom if and why he can't drive anymore. He has no recollection that he failed his drivers test 3 times. He is getting much more used to the idea that he can't drive and for the most part has reconciled that it's just not a possibility. He no longer has a driver's license and Jeff and I have yet to cancel his auto insurance but are set to any day now. However, my dad is INTENT on going on a fishing trip soon (he's getting up there and wants to go at least one more time). So he has this idea that he will save up the money for the fine he'll get if he is pulled over without insurance and a license. I think NOT. If he doesn't care about himself, what about the people on the road??? The DMV testers are highly qualified to decide who is able to drive and who is not. So we keep trying to convince him that he CANT do that!!! Also, he wants to stay there for a few days. What if he forgets where he is? What if he forgets how to get home?

He's asked where the white car (the one he sold 2 years ago) went. Yesterday (the 5th) he was going to take a walk down to the local nursery. A stray cat that visits them often was outside when he was ready to go, so he came in and got it some food real quick. Then he asked us where he was going. And he wants to take a LONG TRIP to go fishing??? Yesterday (the 5th) he asked what the date was. Then he said he wondered if we'd hear anything from my aunt any time soon. I asked him why, and he said, because of Thanksgiving. I told him that this is July and Thanksgiving is in November. And every morning when he takes his meds, he asks, "Why do I have to take so many? I don't remember having to take this many." He is really starting to worry me. And my poor mom...he asks her the same questions over and over all day.

TOMORROW, TOMORROW

Upcoming stuff. Just my dad's appt. with his doctor and my mom's with the ENT. I have no idea where we will go from there in terms of thyroid removal. I am nervous about that but have been told it's not a very risky surgery. But my mom is older and her poor body has been through a lot over the past few months. I still find this so weird. She was one of the healthiest if not THE healthiest people I've ever known, and then suddenly all this happens.

In the meantime, I am still a chauffeur (along with errands I now take them grocery shopping once a week...what a time that is), a pharmacist, a secretary, a therapist of sorts, and last but not least, a daughter.