Oh Yeah, My Mother…

So I never did do an update on my mother, after writing about what was indeed a heart attack.  That’s her on Sunday, looking if anything better than ever.  She’s already trying to do way too much, and will probably explode in annoyance at one of us for telling her that, before long.

Anyway, she’d been burning brush with my nephews.  After they went home, she continued to watch it as it burned down, actually laying down for a while to keep an eye on it, as she was feeling breathless and weak.  Then she tossed some water on it when the time came, went in, and after a while went back out with more water because it kept smoking longer than it should have.  After making sure it was really out, she went back in.  That’s when she was really having trouble breathing and feeling like something was squeezing her chest.  There was never any pain at all.

She recognized the signs and called for an ambulance.  By the time they reached the college, she’d had a nitro and three baby aspirin.  By the time they got to Peaceful Meadows in Whitman, she’d had another nitro.  As I recall, they were also giving her an IV with something.

At Brockton Hospital they did a catheterization.  She had a very uncomfortable 24 hours, being on a gurney and not a bed, and didn’t sleep that whole time.  At Brockton, they’re not allowed to do stents unless it’s enough of an emergency, so the doctor was saying “you’re in a lot of pain, right?” Which she wasn’t, and apparently she didn’t pick up on the hint, so they kept in the catheter and transported her to New England Medical Center.  As she noted, it was almost 46 years to the day after they took me to New England Medical Center with the meningitis.

There they put in two stents and kept her for a few days.

She had already known she was at risk and was building up serious blockages, but both she and especially her doctor were oddly nonchalant about it.

She seemed pleased and amused that my brother in Ohio was the one who ended up with the most direct information to pass on, because after he found out she was there, he looked up the number, called, located and talked to her for an extended time.

Anyway, she seems to be chipper and feeling fantastic now.  She was fascinated by the whole procedure.

The above is subject to however well I am remembering what she said days ago when she called here in response to my thinking about calling her.  As Deb said, I was doing the psychic thing again.  I said “I should call my mother.” The phone rang.  I laughed heartily because I knew it was her.  Deb picked it up (I had just handled raw meat) and they talked a bit, then I grabbed the other phone when I had cleaner hands and a good opening in the cooking process.  We got a good reminder yesterday of just how the unintentional game of telephone can twist things around, especially when mixed with people’s other perceptions on things.  Which is another post I am thinking of writing, to set the details straight, although it was rather fun to handle it by Deb announcing that we’re planning to move into the van, and that was why we’d bought it.  Heh.

Posted by on 05/07 at 11:17 AM

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