Update on my mother.
Apr. 9th, 2003 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaI just got off the phone with my sister Debbie, who is a doctor. She was freaked out too when I told her what I knew, but then she made some excellent points:
(1) If my mother came back from the code without medical or surgical intervention, that means that her heart didn't actually stop. It was probably just that her pressure was too low for my father to palpate a pulse.
(2) If my mother is talking and making sense and sounding like herself (as my sister Judy says that she is), she's probably all right.
(3) My parents live in a small town. It's a lot easier to get put in the ICU there than it would be in a big-city hospital like the ones my sister and I work in, because the hospital usually has ICU beds available. So they tend to put people in there when the risk isn't really all that severe.
(4) My mother has no risk factors for a heart problem, except that she's overweight. No diabetes, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no smoking.
Update already: Okay, now Debbie's talked to Mom. She says that Mom sounds good - her voice is strong and she's perfectly rational, just upset about having to stay in the ICU because she thinks she won't get much rest. She's had an echocardiogram, and her heart is perfectly normal. She's had a pelvic CT scan, and the amount of bleeding isn't enough to require another operation. She probably won't need a transfusion - although her hematocrit has dropped, and will probably be even lower tomorrow because you make up blood volume before you make up blood cells, it's still within the normal range.
My father was keeping something from me, damn it. He had thought that Mom stopped breathing during the fainting episode, when he couldn't find her pulse. But the nurse who was there with him says that she never stopped breathing. Jesus, how terrifying for my father.
Debbie suggests that I wait until tomorrow to decide whether I go to Elmira or to Boston. Mom will probably be discharged tomorrow, and I'll be able to talk to her and find out whether she wants visitors. I assume that my father will stay with her, and my sisters Judy and Juanita will be in town with her, and there should probably be at least some representatives of our family at the funeral. So I'll wait and see.
Debbie didn't sound worried at all, after talking to mom and getting the additional information. I feel much better myself, although I still don't think we're out of the woods. Probably within 24 hours, we'll know one way or another whether things will get worse or better.
Also, I should say that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
curiousangel gets an infinite number of husband points for being calm, concerned, sensible, and supportive. It really helped to know that, whatever I needed to do, I could count on him to make it happen - on a moment's notice and without adding to my stress level. Not everyone is like that in a crisis.
therealjae also gets major points for reminding me that my adrenaline rush was not actually making me more effective at dealing with the situation, and reminding me to breathe. Deep diaphragmatic breathing exercises actually helped a lot, and I wouldn't have thought to do them on my own.
(1) If my mother came back from the code without medical or surgical intervention, that means that her heart didn't actually stop. It was probably just that her pressure was too low for my father to palpate a pulse.
(2) If my mother is talking and making sense and sounding like herself (as my sister Judy says that she is), she's probably all right.
(3) My parents live in a small town. It's a lot easier to get put in the ICU there than it would be in a big-city hospital like the ones my sister and I work in, because the hospital usually has ICU beds available. So they tend to put people in there when the risk isn't really all that severe.
(4) My mother has no risk factors for a heart problem, except that she's overweight. No diabetes, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no smoking.
Update already: Okay, now Debbie's talked to Mom. She says that Mom sounds good - her voice is strong and she's perfectly rational, just upset about having to stay in the ICU because she thinks she won't get much rest. She's had an echocardiogram, and her heart is perfectly normal. She's had a pelvic CT scan, and the amount of bleeding isn't enough to require another operation. She probably won't need a transfusion - although her hematocrit has dropped, and will probably be even lower tomorrow because you make up blood volume before you make up blood cells, it's still within the normal range.
My father was keeping something from me, damn it. He had thought that Mom stopped breathing during the fainting episode, when he couldn't find her pulse. But the nurse who was there with him says that she never stopped breathing. Jesus, how terrifying for my father.
Debbie suggests that I wait until tomorrow to decide whether I go to Elmira or to Boston. Mom will probably be discharged tomorrow, and I'll be able to talk to her and find out whether she wants visitors. I assume that my father will stay with her, and my sisters Judy and Juanita will be in town with her, and there should probably be at least some representatives of our family at the funeral. So I'll wait and see.
Debbie didn't sound worried at all, after talking to mom and getting the additional information. I feel much better myself, although I still don't think we're out of the woods. Probably within 24 hours, we'll know one way or another whether things will get worse or better.
Also, I should say that
curiousangel gets an infinite number of husband points for being calm, concerned, sensible, and supportive. It really helped to know that, whatever I needed to do, I could count on him to make it happen - on a moment's notice and without adding to my stress level. Not everyone is like that in a crisis. therealjae also gets major points for reminding me that my adrenaline rush was not actually making me more effective at dealing with the situation, and reminding me to breathe. Deep diaphragmatic breathing exercises actually helped a lot, and I wouldn't have thought to do them on my own.
