Sue

So Saturday I was taking a nice lazy bath in my mom's huge bathtub. My mom was over at her best friend JJ's putting a dinner together. Right when my bath had just gotten started, my mom and JJ come in, with JJ saying there had been an accident, yet she was saying it in a really calm voice for some strange reason. So I got out of the bathtub, put on a robe, and it turned out my mom had cut her finger pretty bad on a sharp knife while chopping up lettuce for a salad.

I got dressed and we all piled into the car. I took JJ home and took mom to the emergency room. Mom said to just drop her off and she'd call me to come pick her up. About 2 hours go by and I go to pick her up. She had a couple stitches in her finger and some gauze wrapped around it. Seemed like everything was ok. She mentioned she had been given a tetanus (I really don't think that's spelled right, but whatever) shot, and it had been about 15-20 yrs since she'd had one.

The rest of the day goes by fine. Later on that night, I was online here around 11pm-ish or so. Mom came out of the bedroom saying her finger was hurting REAL bad. So bad it woke her up out of a sound sleep. The last time she was in a lot of pain was when I was around 11 or 12, when she broke her tailbone. I went to the kitchen to meet her there and get her some ice. She was talking to my back, so I turned around, and saw her face was stark white. She said she felt like she was going to be sick. I told her she didn't look so good and that she should lie down, and then she just kind of became unresponsive. I started panicking in my head, like, oh f***, not now, not 2 years after my own father died in her arms on a Saturday night. Then she lost her grip on the counter and slumped over. She grabbed ahold of the bar stool and it came crashing down to the ground, along with her. I didn't know what the hell was going, whether an infection was going through her, whether her blood sugar was low, or whether she was having a reaction to the tetanus shot she had. Whatever it was, I was scared. I had all these thoughts going through my head like, oh my god, oh my god, I can't lose her now, she's all I have left, she went through this with my dad and now I have to go through it with her, I CAN'T LOSE HER NOW, OH MY GOD!

It's different you know, when you're working and something like this happens to someone you DON'T know; you go through the motions to react to the emergency. But when it's a family member or someone else very close to you, it's a totally different situation. I'm sure most of you can relate to what I mean by that. I was so scared. So, so scared. I hope I never have to go through ANYthing like that with a loved one EVER again. I called 911, I was about to do CPR on my mom, and I was trying to see if she was at all conscious by yelling, MOM! MOM!!!!! She came to about a minute later (but I swear it felt like an eternity), and she kept saying she didn't want an ambulance. Her speech was slurred, she had passed out (with her eyes OPEN, which made me even more scared, because that's not a good thing to see of your own mother), and she had fallen to the floor. She didn't hit her head thank god, because I was able to catch her, but still. The operator said he couldn't send an ambulance if she was saying she didn't want one. I really wish they had sent one though. I would have felt better personally, but there was nothing I could do about it. My blood pressure's going up just thinking about it again.

The operator said if it happened again to call back right away though, which I might as well have lasered into my head, because I kept that in mind all night. She didn't know she had passed out, and she didn't know why she was on the ground. After resting there a few minutes I helped her to her bedroom and got her into bed. Checked her eyes out and it didn't seem like she had a concussion, but who am I to judge right? I'm no doctor or nurse or anything. Got her some water and some orange juice. Then she said she had to go to the bathroom. So I helped her over to her bathroom which wasn't more than like, 10-12 ft from her bed, and all of a sudden she started going white again. I tried to steer her back to the bed to lie down again, but she was gripping onto the wall like it was her lifeline, and her speech was slurred again. She was saying, "I have to get to the bed," but it came out sounding like, "I have to gettotegv bear." *sigh* not a good thing at all. I managed to get her back to the bed and she recovered slowly from this last time. She didn't even know her speech had slurred again, and she was stumbling in my arms back to her bed too.

I don't think all's still well with her. She's supposed to have a follow up appt tomorrow, which I'm going to make sure she gets to. I had to work at 10am this morning, but I was going to take it off because of everything that happened. My mom kept insisting that I go to work though. I called JJ and told her what happened, and asked her if she could come by to make sure everything was ok with my mom while I was gone. No way in hell was I gonna leave her all alone after what happened.

See, a Saturday night was when my father died. And then to have whatever this was happen to my mom... well, it just scared me. I'm not ready to be left alone yet. I may be grown, and I may want to move out, but I still need my mom in my life. I'm not ready for her to be with my father yet.


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Took a nap this afternoon after getting out of work early, and I had a nightmare reliving the whole thing.

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ShaniFaye

I hope your mom is better today, thats a really scary thing to have to go thru...did that woman not understand that your mom wasnt in her right mind when she said she didnt want an ambulance?

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

ronan

That is absoloutely chronic dude... i dunno, but by how you made it sound, i'd be ringing doctors and shit, and telling them about it..

*hugs*

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i am enlightened

healer

I know the fear of which you speak. It's the scariest feeling in the world.

My mom was feeling very sick last week - say from Thursday - flu symptoms with nasty headaches from what I could gather. Bad enough for her to stay outta school (she's a primary school teacher), which is a rare occurence in itself. Being the hard-headed stubborn woman she is, she refused to go to the doctor, despite my constant efforts.

Early Saturday morning, however, she asked me to drive her to a friend's house to drop something off. She can drive, but was feeling lightheaded and dizzy and didn't want to risk it. When we got back home she was struggling to get out of the car. I almost blurted out "Stop being such a stubborn bitch and let me take you to the fucking doctor", but before I could get out she turned and said "Maybe you should take me to go see Dr Ohlson".

Thank God for small mercies I always say. But the scariest part was when we got there and were sitting in the waiting room. She started complaining about her head and she felt weak and her hands and feet started shaking. She tilted over and fell with her head into my lap, holding it in her head in her hands and this look of pain and anguish on her face. And even though we were sitting in the doctor's surgery I felt this wave of utter helplessness wash over me. It was like I was just stuck. I knew what I was sposed to do, but the fear had such a hold over me...it was terrible. After a few minutes though, she started looking better. I got her some sugar water. A coupla minutes later we went in to see the doctor and he gave her some meds that sorted her out pretty quickly. She went back to school this morning

It's true what Sue said...it's different when it happens to someone you love. I've been in similar situations in the past and reacted calmly.

Sue, hope your mom's doin ok.

amonkie

Hope all goes well at the followup - You were right to be concerned, and it is made more difficult when those who need the care try to refuse it. Hugs, girl.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

snowy

Sue, that's really awful. I can semi-relate--we recently found out my mom has had epilepsy and frequent small seizures for several years now. I haven't really had to deal with any of her really bad spells--she had a grand mal last spring--but my dad has. My dad was a lifeguard on the beaches of Miami for seven years and knows his lifesaving skills--but when my mom had her grand mal he said it was the most helpless he'd ever felt. But watching my mom go through this kind of stuff day in and day out--it's so hard.

I wish you the best of luck, I hope it's nothing serious, and I hope your mother feels better soon.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Chuckles

The hospital needs to cover its own ass in every situation too, especially ambulance ones. The mother was talking, and was still apparently in her right mind. If the ambulance would come and take her, then charge her for it (which is like 100 or 200 bucks) but she says she didn't want it, issues are gonna arise. Its all legal bs.

Marvelous Marv

It's more than 200 bucks. They charge $50 if they turn their HEADLIGHTS on.

Sue

Well I'm home, spoke to mom on the phone, and I'm kinda pissed off. I asked her if she went for her followup, and she said her finger's fine, she doesn't need to go.

Does she not realize the other stuff that happened is kind of important to mention to a doctor, regardless of the reason it happened? %$#&$

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snowy

Yes, it very much is. Have you explained to her that you're concerned and would really like her to follow up regardless if her finger's feeling better? Those are not normal reactions to a cut/tetanus shot (I've worked in food and been cut many, many times). A littlw wooziness, maybe, but fainting is not normal. Talk to her and emphasize your concern. Perhaps if she knows you're worried she'll go to the doctor for your sake and not her own (that's how we finally got my mother to go).

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau