Saturday morning and afternoon was punctuated by lazy times spent inside, complete with my dad's famous "clean-up" stew, which basically means that he uses every form of meat and vegetable that we have left over in the refrigerator, plus his choice of seasoning. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, my mom's phone rang, and I saw that it was Mimi. I answered, and found out that Mimi had fallen in her house and needed someone to come over. Mom and Dad promptly headed over there to assess the situation. I ended up staying home to attend to a few things that needed attending. After a while, Dad let me know that an ambulance had taken my mom and Mimi to the hospital, and he was following them up there. At that point, it was the overall consensus that she had broken some part of her left arm, and they were going to have to immobilize it somehow. The rest of the day left me feeling very thankful for cell phones, because my family was in constant communication that would've been impossible otherwise!
Before continuing in this story, I should add an important detail that everything really hinges upon. Mimi has never been able to tolerate any form of pain medication stronger than basic acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Anything stronger, and her system goes berserk. Keep this in mind as the story progresses...
During the duration of Mimi's ER visit, very little went right. Against the advice of my mom and aunt, Mimi received a strong dosage of morphine. I'll let you guess how well that went for her. (Yep, that well...) After the staff finally realized that, oh, hey, this lady can't tolerate narcotic painkillers, they decided to give her a medication to reverse the effects of the morphine. Add to this the fact that the admitting doctor (who is actually a specialist...what?!) refused to admit her against the advice of the ER doctor, you can sense the frustration that my family felt. I should add that the ER staff only followed orders, and was otherwise great with Mimi. The admitting doctor on the other hand, not so much. They got Mimi to the ER around 4 or 5:00 PM, and she was FINALLY admitted around 4:00 AM on Sunday. I'll spare you my rant on our healthcare system, and suffice it to say that my parents, aunt, and uncle left the hospital around 5:00 and were beyond exhausted and upset. Also, I have no love for that admitting doctor whose name I won't repeat out of respect. Not much happened for Mimi on Sunday, just lots of resting for her, and trying to get the residual morphine out of her system. I finally made it up to see her on Sunday evening, and she didn't really look or sound like herself. I didn't stay took long, though, since I got there later and she really needed to rest.
Monday wasn't much better. She passed out intermittently and ended up needing two units of blood, because she was losing blood somewhere. Let's just say that things weren't looking so great on Monday. Tuesday was a much better day, because she was more alert and acting much more like herself. Liz, Evan, and I went up there for a while that afternoon, and she really perked up at the sight of us. She was joking, smiling, and chatting with us, while dozing off once in a while. Yesterday, she was moved over to the Skilled Nursing Unit, and her nurses have been getting her up more often so that she can regain her strength. They finally bathed her yesterday, although it left her feeling extremely sore and exhausted. My mom and I went up there yesterday afternoon, and she looked much like she did on Tuesday, which was a good thing! In the midst of all of this, they finally found a pain medication other than Tylenol that she can handle, PTL! The physical therapist has also been coming in to exercise her legs, since she has been bedridden since Saturday. It makes me happy to hear that he was impressed by the muscle tone my almost-95-year-old grandma has in her legs! He commented to my mom and her siblings that the activities she was able to do on the first day were normally what they were eventually able to work up to after three days, for someone her age. Also, a cardiologist, although it wasn't her personal one, came in and ran some scans to see what deal was with her passing out. No news on that front yet, though. She has been taken off of her medication that she was on for her heart condition, which we have all suspected may have caused some of these problems.
Truth be told, in all of the struggles she has faced in the last few days, she/we have been amazed by the simple blessings that have been showered down on us. From my cousins who spent all Sunday with her while my mom and her siblings rested, to the great nursing staff, to her doctor who cares for her in lieu of her regular doctor, to our priest who has called and visited her numerous times, to her best friend who sent her a card that brightened her day, to the fact that her condition is readily improving, to the final, greatest blessing of everyone who has prayed for her healing and recovery.
I'll keep you updated on her condition as she progresses, and I truly, deeply thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers for her! Have a good day!
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