On Wednesday (the 20th) my dad called me and told me that my mom was in really bad pain. I talked to her and all she could really say to me is that, "It hurts." I could hear the pain in her voice. I asked her if she wanted me to take her to the hospital and she said yes. I was surprised. She's always says no.
So I showered and got ready as fast as I could, and got to her house. It took me and my dad to get her into my car. She was in SO MUCH pain. My mom is good at not showing pain, but not when it gets that bad. She also said that she had tried to take a Vicodin and threw it back up. And also that it was no longer helping her pain. That's what really prompted me to take her to the ER. I was nervous to drive her, you know, with my emet, but I managed. I gave her a plastic bag, just in case.
When we got to the ER we checked her in and everything…Jeff met us there. I also asked for one of those plastic puke bags, just in case. The ER wasn't very busy. My mom did get a little sick one time and I started to panic a little. I could hear her but I just couldn't look. I just grabbed Jeff's hand. She is a quiet vomiter so that is good, but still, it's someone vomiting…whether I can catch it or not. Of course I'd be more freaked out if I could catch it. Stupid emet. Anyway, it was just liquid because she hadn't eaten that day.
When we got called into a room my mom got into one of those oh so flattering hospital gowns. It took a while, but the Dr. came in and ordered pain meds. That knocked my mom out pretty quickly. Then an x-ray guy came and took her to get her back x-rayed. She spent most of the time asleep, doped up on drugs. Once in a while she'd wake up and see me and ask me how long she was going to be there, or how long we'd already been there, etc. She was pretty out if it, but if she moved just the slightest, it still hurt and she'd…not cry out in pain, but just maybe half of a cry out of pain? I was like, WTF, they gave her 2 pain meds and an anti-emetic (prevents nausea and vomiting) and it STILL HURTS??? Even while she was asleep, she seemed to be moaning a bit, I think b/c of the pain.
I'd say about 3 hours or so into it (or at least it felt hat way), the doctor came back and said he couldn't find anything wrong with her back. Just that her last vertebrae in her spine was smaller than the rest, but otherwise, nothing that he could do for her (the vertebrae was no big deal). So he ordered a urine test to see if she had any infections.
What seemed like over an hour later, the results from that test were still not back. I finally got up and asked one of the nurses if it would be much longer (being shy, this is something I don't normally do), but I was cold, even under 2 blankets, uncomfortable in this awful hard, plastic chair, and tired. One of the nurses said the results were in, but the doctor wasn't ready to come in yet. Ugh. Doctors.
The doctor finally came in and said the urine results were fine, no infection. He told me that the only course of treatment would be a lot of pain meds (well, only two…a double dose of the amount of Vicodin that she was taking, and Valium to help with the back muscle spasms). We were to wait a little longer while the nurses got all of the paperwork together. The doctor came back in and tried to wake up my mom to explain to her what he told me as best as he could, with her being groggy.
Honestly I was pissed off. This is just a BAND-AID!!! And she'll be out of it all day, so the only benefit is that she will not be in pain while she sleeps. The doctor said that just as suddenly as this came on, it could go away. He said that if it becomes chronic, she could probably see a pain specialist and he/she would do something called nerve blocking or something (?).
So after about 7 hours, my mom was discharged, off we went, to the 24 hour pharmacy. Jeff again helped me get my mom to the car and we followed him to the pharmacy. This was about 8pm or so. The woman at the drop-off window said the prescriptions wouldn't be ready until 10pm. Great. We took my mom home and got her comfy. Jeff and I were hungry and ended up just getting something and coming back here for a while. We left to get her meds around 10pm went back to my parents' house. She took those, which started to make her very sleepy. I felt bad leaving her there all alone with my dad (not that my dad is a bad guy, just, not the smartest guy in the world), who has no idea about meds and such, but it was late and we needed to get home.
The next day (Thurs. the 21st) I called my mom said she was still hurting but the pain had subsided just a "tiny bit." I called to check up on her very often during the day and she said she was okay. I wanted to go over but I was exhausted. I had a doctor appointment of my own, at 1pm, and it was all I could do to get up in time to go.
I have to say I am pretty proud of myself. I did most of this on my own; Jeff helped me drop her off and park my car and sat with us in the ER. He also waited in the ER for about an hour and half or so after we were called in, and tried to contact me on my cell but I didn't have a signal. So he went back to work (he works at that hospital).
Alright, I have more to this update but I'm getting worn out from writing and I think I'm gonna go get away from the computer for a while and then come back and finish. As soon as I can get this update finished, I can start catching up with my messages and such. I've been living in here forever, tying to catch up on everything.
Thanks for reading guys. I really appreciate it, especially those who have left comments or have contacted me privately.
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