ER......It's not like T.V.

What a weird couple of weeks!  

As a family, we have been very blessed!  But there are times when you just have to laugh or cry, or maybe both!  

On Sunday night, February 28, I got a call that my mama had fallen and was being sent to the hospital by ambulance.  So I rushed up to the ER and we spent a few hours there.  She had a big bump on her head so they got a CT of her brain.  All was well there, so we were sent home even though she was complaining of back pain.  At home, things went downhill fast!  She stopped getting up at all and ended up in a hospital bed and some other stuff!  Things just continued to go south with more and more pain and complications.

Sunday, March 7th, after a wonderful church service, I had messages from my brother looking for me and asking me to get right over to mama's!  She was worse and the retirement center nurse was considering sending her back to the ER.  We discussed it at length and decided that she wouldn't get much done on Sunday night (especially since we had been that route before), and that we would look at things Monday morning.  

Monday, we decided she needed to go to the ER.  We waited for one sister to arrive from Pensacola, then met the ambulance for another trip......

As for the ER, can anybody say Spring Break???  What a zoo!  There were kids everywhere with everything from alcohol poisoning to claims of rape.  We saw two little girls, scantily clad looking miserable and I was tempted to say having fun yet??

We got right back and began our nine (9) hour stay in the torture chamber ER.  

Ever been on one of these luxury beds for 9 hours?  We really needed Dr. H*ouse!  Where's a good T.V. doctor when you need him???

Finally, they came to take her to get a CT of her spine.......for 8 days, mama had been suffering with a broken back!  She left the ER the first time without anyone looking at her back.  Suffering a compression fraction at L1 and T12 with fragments.....she was fitted with a brace.  

Please realize that by this time we were slap happy from worry and weariness!  So when a cute, bright blue eyed prosthetics and orthodics guy came in, my sister says you have the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen.  Hold back sister!  He very gallantly said ladies, I'm too old for you (young enough to be our son).  I'm quite sure he sees weary older women all the time and perfectly understood that she would normally never say a thing like that!  Of course, then when he asked me to sign some paperwork, I said Sure blue eyes!  Grin here.......I was kidding!!   He probably went home to his 20 something year old, beautiful, blonde wife and had a good laugh!

But back to poor mama (who actually is a big flirt too).  The ER docs wanted to brace her and send her back home.  We were so confused, we didn't know how that would work out.  But as the providence of our sweet Lord would be, right at that moment, my phone rang and it was the nurse from her primary care doctor's office.......who also just happens to be my next door neighbor.  She said very emphatically......UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES LET THEM SEND HER HOME....SHE NEEDS TO GO TO REHAB!  That gave us the backbone to have them admit her until she could go to rehab. 

Now my 86 year old mother had been laying on that table for 9 hours without a drop of water or any food and her oxygen levels hovering around 87!  I got really concerned about her dehydrating or worse and went into the hall and called out to the doctor.....I can't of course say his name, but it rhymes with who and starts with a V.  He finally got some fluids started, admitted her to the hospital and Tuesday she got moved to rehab!

So, now here she is in the rehab.....

Much more comfortable bed! 

Still a bunch of tired goofy children!

I now need rehab after my brother sat on my lap!

Of course, we were so thankful that she was finally getting some treatment!

I just can't resist a little photography.  This is just one half of my mother's children! 

I'm pretty sure by this time, she was ready for us to leave! 

She did a little rehab this morning.  We're praying they can get her back home!  Her good sense of humor is intact!