Sigh…

If you’ve been following along at my mom’s Caringbridge Site, you know that she had a big setback yesterday. They think her parotid gland became blocked and that made it swell, possibly with infection, definitely with cellulitis. It was endangering her airway so she was admitted to ICU.

Long story short I did go to visit Mom yesterday after Izzy’s art show because I thought she might enjoy seeing some of Izzy’s work, and when I got there around 4:45 p.m. I saw her neck was swollen and purplish red! I insisted that the doctor see her immediately or that we transport her to the hospital, and so that’s how she was admitted.

… and I am stunned. I am stunned that I had to tell the nursing home what to do about this, and that if I hadn’t checked on her yesterday she might not have gotten treatment for 12 hours or longer!

Anyway, there was a funny side to this.

I have been an avid Dancing with the Stars fan! Monday night I missed the finale because of the boy’s piano recital. So I was ready to enjoy the grand finale show on Tuesday night and watch the winner get the trophy ball! But as it turns out I was sitting in the emergency room with mom. Luckily they had a t.v. and as mom was drifting in and out, I was able to watch snippets of the show in between trying to make her comfortable, looking for a vomit basin, and asking the nurses for more pain medication.

Now I had been a big fan of Shawn Johnson, and I loved the cha cha she did with Mark Ballas a few weeks ago, so when I saw she was in costume for that number I was thrilled. Shawn and Mark were introduced and were ready to dance; I got close to the t.v. to watch … and two doctors walked in to take a history and do an exam. The t.v. went off and I missed the entire number.

45 minutes later mom was feeling a little more pain relief and was waiting for them to take her to ICU. The t.v. was back on and I was hoping to watch the last ten minutes to at least see who would win the competition. Mom suddenly sort of jolted and said, “I wish you’d turn that t.v. off!”

Now I had that volume so low I was lip reading 10%, misreading half of that, and totally missing the other 90% of what was being said. I didn’t know if the volume was really bothering her or if she had just had a bad dream, so I said in a pleading voice, “Mom, I’ve been watching this show for 11 weeks. I’d really like to see who wins!” but by this time she was back in dreamland.

Shawn Johnson won. I turned off the t.v. We told mom we loved her. Turned off the lights and left. It was 11:00.

Such is life right now.

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