I pulled a 3rd shift last night without taking a nap beforehand. All day today, my head has felt like it’s filled with glue and my body thinks it ran a marathon.
My 3rd shift was spent in the ER with Mom. 🙁
Of course, I must share the required and traditional selfie.
Carl called around 12:30 AM this morning relaying Mom’s symptoms. High heart rate and blood pressure. Although I was in pj’s, I hadn’t taken any Tylenol PMs… and it’s a good thing or I would’ve never made it through the night. NINE hours in the ER is grueling for everyone.
3 facts:
- Neither Carl nor I have had heart surgery. We have bad backs… and have both had back surgery. Sitting on those straight-backed chairs for hours on end is rough. After about 6 hours in the room, the doctor came in and Mom meant to say we’d both had back surgery. Instead, she told the ER doc we’d both had heart surgery by mistake. I’ll betcha he thought we were a sickly group until she corrected her statement.
- I was surprised at the condition of the hospital. There was blood spattered on the sidewalk just outside the ER when we arrived. 9 hours later it was still there. The bathrooms were a MESS… toilet paper and water (I hope it was water) all over the floor. The trashcans were all full and overflowing.
- One doctor on call isn’t enough. While everyone was nice, they were shorthanded. One doctor was it, you guys. They had people on stretchers in the halls outside of the treatment rooms.
Mom is doing much better…
Her heart rate is back to normal and her BP is down. She has follow-up appointments already scheduled with her regular doctor and her cardiologist. After reviewing her medications at home, she found that one prescription was left unfilled and she’s not been taking it. We’re wondering if that was the root cause of the problem but will know more after the appointments.
Now you know: Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don’t drift apart.