Alright, doing all kinds of recoup.
On March 3, I decided to drag mom and Ken-Ken to Epcot. We made it there fine. It was so good in fact, that if I had the chance to finish it, this entry would have been fun all the way through. It would have been a happy discourse in which my present self would have insisted in writing detailed essay regarding how the idea of global village, Disney style has been modified since 9/11, while my inner child would have thrown in a whole excited account of Mission to Mars.
The thing is though that essay, thrills and life were interrupted, if for some critical hours in March because mom had a heart attack while visiting the Germany Pavilion.
Cannot deny that it was scary boys and girls, but a good trooper that she is, mom did us all the favor of having the most asymptomatic heart attack ever... she actually thought it was heartburn.
She complained of acid reflux while choosing kimonos for Ken-Ken and Lysanel. Sober dragon patterns for Kendra, cherry blossoms for the little bundle. She blamed it on Wheat thins ( of course, she eats lots of fiber... you know to keep cholesterol down). From the first, ignored sign of "acid reflux" until "honey, the Prevacid is not working" two hours went through. She was kind of pale and I will be always grateful of the fact that Kendra didn't put a show when I told her that we needed to cut the trip short. Mom is the kind of person that would never rain on a child's parade, even if she has to die. She told Kendra she could sit down and wait for her to make it to Canada, fortunately Kendra said no.
Of course I didn't think it would be necessary to rush to the nearest ER for acid reflux, so I drove back to Tampa (for about 1 hour). We talked all the way through. I took her to the hospital because an episode of acid reflux lasting more than (keep score people... 3 HOURS!!!) was not reasonable, and besides there was a bit of a chest discomfort that was not there before. When I check her in and they triaged her, as soon as they took her blood pressure, I saw THE LOOK in the nurse face. I am a Medical Assistant. I Know THE LOOK. It's in the grounds of "damn, this lady looks OK for what she is going through" I asked her, in the most sophisticated English (because mom understands it clearly) "Is this a cardiac arrest?" I almost fainted when the nice nurse told me "a critical one."
In fact if we were talking numbers from 1 being your regular bad day to 10 being the day that you bite it, mom had 7 or 8. She pulled through though and after a cardiac stent- fortunately, there was no need of pace maker- she's is home on her way to being better.
Thanks to those who cared to drop a line, I love you all guys.
The Public service announcement for today is sponsored by HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, which mom didn't care much for http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=2114#
Of course, Doc gave me the award to the blondest Medical Assistant ever, although commended me for taking mom to the Hospital instead of waiting it out. I'm just glad that the decisions taken were the right ones, even if we didn't know what we were dealing with and, boys and girls, life goes on... mom won't be running the Boston Marathon anytime soon, but at 54, she is not dying either. She scared me off stuffing my mouth with pasta and meatballs when I make it to Italy though... Insalata for me , thank you.
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