Emergency!

Well, things didn't turn out as planned yesterday. Just before going to the yoga class, I felt the urge to phone mom. "How are you?"I asked. "Not good," she replied. Apparently, the post-surgery shoe on her right foot has an inch high sole and makes her off balanced. She fell late Tuesday and said she might have broken some ribs and her elbow hurt. Then, she fell backwards just an hour earlier and hit the back of her head on the bathroom floor.

"Get dressed. I am on my way." Of course, there was a huge backup on the pass, I saw two fire engines and ambulances passed me. Traffic on the other side was no better. Frustrated. I was worried about a head injury. I knew time was of the essence.

Finally, I grabbed her, flew to the hospital emergency room where I go for my other rehab workouts, there was no one else in the waiting room and we were in the emergency bay under two hours after my phone call to her.

The doctor came through the curtain. "Michael!" I said. "How are you?" He is the head percussionist with the large professional orchestra with whom I performed for over a decade. I had not seen him in years. He immediately recognized me, I explained why I no longer was playing with them, he had questions about the disease and invited me to their next concert. He also said they really needed me in the bass section. Nice to talk music.

Mom was stunned. She is always shocked that everywhere we go, I run into someone I know. Usually it is someone from the school where I got sick. "Of course you know the emergency room doctor!"

After lots of questions and exams, he ordered x-rays. Then, he ordered more x-rays. The news: nothing. No broken ribs, no fractured elbow, no cracked hip or pelvis, no head injuries.

We walked out of there around 1:00, hungry and ready for food. She enjoyed some toast and potatoes and eggs then we drove over the pass to my house to get her walker in storage. It will help her, especially at night, to get safely to her bathroom.

All was well until she started mentioning that everything was a lovely shade of purple. Anything in the sunshine, including the palm of her hands, was suddenly like a water colored wash of purple. I was worried about an optic bleed from knocking her head. Michael the doctor had determined she did not have a head injury and had not ordered a CT scan of her head.

We drove back over the pass towards her house when it was definitely there and not going away. I pulled over and phoned Dr. Michael. When he found out she had a headache and queasy, he told us to bring her back in. We were taken right in and the radiology person was waiting for us. Moments later she was back. Five minutes later, Michael stuck her head in the door and said that the initial read looked like she was fine. Fifteen minutes later he was back.

No concussion, no bleed, no clot. He could not explain the colors but thought it could be a silent migraine, which she has had in the past. If it returned, he told her to see her ophthalmologist. We got her home and settle around 5:30, I met my Michael at a little Greek place for dinner then we followed each other over the pass.

I was totally spent both physically and emotionally.

If anything had been broken, I had negotiated with her that she would come home with me. She REALLY didn't want to do that but knew that it would be impossible to take care of herself with, say, a broken elbow. So, she is still home and we see the foot doctor tomorrow morning. I think she has another week in the post-surgery shoe, which may just kill her!

Today? I am staying home, taking a shower, doing the wash, taking a nap and filling up my gas tank. And making dinner. I need to re-coop. But, all these plans could be thrown out the window if mom falls again.