Trip to the ER

I was home on December 27th alphabetizing movies and doing random chores – just going through a normal day… My stepdad called me from his cell which is unusual except while we were planning my mom’s surprise party. When I answered he told me my mom fell while at work and she was pretty messed up. He told me what hospital they were taking her to and I rushed to change my clothes and get out the door. Not too much later I got a call from my brother asking how long it was going to take me to get to the hospital; he’s in a different state and wanted to know what was going on as quickly as possible. He was told she wasn’t able to move, but Glenn didn’t tell me that… it sure made me drive faster though! My brother said he was going to try calling the hospital and I started trying to get a hold of someone at the prison that could tell me what was going on and what happened. My mom works in a tower and I was scared she fell while climbing out of her tower.

I didn’t obey many traffic laws on the way to the hospital as you can imagine. I turned my flashers on and drove like a crazy woman. On the way I was able to talk to a lieutenant who filled me in on everything he knew: My mom tripped over a locking mechanism in her tower, fell backward and landed on the rim of the toilet on her right mid back. He said she got herself out of the tower and she was sitting up and communicating in the ambulance. Thank goodness.

I got to the hospital and there were already a few visitors in her room, so someone had to come out so I could go in. I couldn’t imagine why there were so many “visitors” because it’s just my stepdad and me that would have been there. I didn’t think that a sergeant and a coworker would be there too. I went to her room and she was screaming from back spasms. She was trying to tell the nurse her personal information and I finished giving her what she needed. I’m glad her coworker was there to help with the job information portion.

She said it felt like everything in the back of her was pushed out her front. She said she fell so hard on her back that even her boob hurt. She was screaming as each spasms came. They wheeled her off to radiology and I called my brother to give him an update. She was in so much pain that they didn’t even try to remove her uniform for the x-rays. She came back quite a while later – screaming from even more pain because the radiology tech was not gentle with her. She began to cry when she described how he was treating her and moving her. Not cool!

It seemed to be taking a long time to get the results back, so I went to the nurse’s desk. The nurse looked up the paperwork and said everything appeared normal and the doctor would be in to go over everything with her. Then I started getting annoyed because my mom is screaming in pain (after numerous morphine injections and a valium) and the doctor has yet to show up?? (at this point I had been there for almost 3 hours). I know how the ER works because I used to work at a hospital, but come on.

To lighten the mood, when I called my brother while waiting for her results, he sent his love and a message for my mom, “Quit being a p***y and enjoy the high!” Then we got to laughing about the amount of drugs they gave her – I was telling my brother that she has cotton mouth really bad and kept licking her lips and could hardly finish a sentence. He said, “Oh, I bet she pukes on the way home!” Aren’t we a loving family!!?? LOL

I called Doug to let him know what was going on and let him know he didn’t need to come and I saw the doctor finally go into her room. He told her she was going to be discharged with pain medications. I asked him if she could have another shot because of the crazy road they live on; the doctor was okay giving her more meds. We were going to be there for a little while longer, so Glenn headed out to fill the truck with gas so they wouldn’t have to stop except to pick up the medications. The nurse and I were putting my mom into a wheelchair when he got back. That was a painful process for my mom. The nurse wheeled her out and helped her get up into the truck. My parents headed to the pharmacy to get her prescriptions and then headed home. If you really want to know….My mom did puke when she got home.

She had a follow up appointment with the worker’s comp doctor a couple days ago. They were very concerned with how many drugs the ER doctor gave her – AND without asking what her current medications are. My mom had a low grade fever and slept most of the last week (because of the narcotics) – another concern for the doctor because she could be developing pneumonia. They reran all her x-rays and found that she fractured the front of her 7th rib. GOOD GRIEF! She fell hard enough onto her back that it broke the FRONT. YIKES. No wonder her boob hurt. The doctor reduced and changed her medications and now it’s a waiting game for her to heal.

I feel so bad for her. She’s had such crappy luck. She wanted to lose weight and while putting a treadmill together the spring loaded legs busted her in the mouth. She steps wrong and blows out her knee – now the injections aren’t working to relieve her knee pain. And to ring in the New Year she falls and breaks herself. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers; she’s going to be in pain and out of work for quite a while.