I have been very busy the last two or three weeks. It's a tough life getting ready to go on a cruise, taking the cruise, then catching up after the cruise. Just about when I got caught back up, my mother Elsie had "a little spell" where her heart stopped beating and she passed out for a few minutes. She regained consciousness on her own, without C.P.R., much to her benefit, it hurts life hell to wake up after C.P.R. It has a tendency to break ribs and other maladies. We were very lucky. We took her to the hospital in Garberville. The doctor recommend that we have her transferred to a Hospital where her vital signs could be monitored and recorded. Well, of course we agreed. The Doctor worked for two hours on-and-off the phone to find a hospital that could care for her. It seems that Redwood Memorial in Fortuna couldn't take her, neither could Saint Joseph in Eureka, nor Mad River in Arcata. Something about a flu eppidemic and there was no room at the Inn.
It seems strange to me that no one in Humboldt could take her. I read just last week read that Saint Joeseph was laying off 50 people due to lack of hospital occupancy. Something stinks in Denmark. The Doctor asked if it was okay to transfer her south into Mendocino. Of course we also agreed to that, they have some very good hospitals to the south. Ukiah agreed to take her because there was no room at Willits. Before morning the situation had reversed and they had no room in Ukiah but Willits had a bed. Frank Howard Memorial put her on vital-signs-monitoring and they soon picked up an eradic heartbeat. They tranfered her to the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital were Doctor Chang-Sing installed a pacemaker.
She is home and feeling great again, albeit a little sore around the incision that they installed the pacemaker through.
The good side of the week-long episode, is we discovered how many friends that my mother has. We got endless text messages and phone calls inquiring about her well-being and her progress. We even learned how to send texts to multiple recipiants... never done that before.
All's well that ends well. Today is my birthday, quite a gift to have a well Mother don't you think?
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Happy Birthday Ernie. I am your mom's friend too but until I read this post I had no idea. I guess that is what happens when you live far away
ReplyDeleteOregon
happy birthday ernie. sorry to hear about your mom. but finding some good doctors is the key. the same thing happened to my mom at a family reunion at jack rabbit creek in santa rosa. my family was on our way to cancun for a week and my cousins were driving my parents in another car. we had to take her to emergency in santa rosa but they let her go home and we went on our trip. my uncle was a county corner and owned an ambulance company for over 40 years. he recommended that we take her to see the doctors at sequoia in redwood city. they have a house next the hospital that family members can stay at while you are there. the doctors there are very good at heart doctoring and they used to meet us half way as they service a wide area. so they might meet you in santa rosa. probably a good thing that nobody had room up there at those other hospitals. we have very good heart doctors but they mostly live in the urban areas. my mom survived over 20 years with heart disease and we are very good at heart medicine. growing up on a farm eating all that dairy and meat eventually requires a change in diet. my mom didn't die from heart disease. she just got pissed off that she couldn't do the things she wanted to do in the 91 year old body she had and she stopped eating. she pioneered her way out.
ReplyDeleteOregon
ReplyDeleteI thought about you a lot, but I didn't have your info with me. I have your email at the store, but I wasn't there. Please email me with your Mailing address, email address, and phone number. My computer at home, that has had a virus for quite some time, has finally decided to only give me the blue screen of death. So I don't have your info on it either
I am now using my new tablet, but it is still young and dumb, and it doesn't have my addresses in it yet.
Spy
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother died at 92 years old. She was very spry and active up until the end. She got a brain tumor and took radiation treatments for it. She ended up in a lot of pain. She did the same thing, she refused to eat.
Happy Birthday Ernie!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear your Mom is fine and recovering.
However, the lack of medical care you speak of is really scary.