Today Was A Day

     Like the title says. It was a day. I'm exhausted and I did nearly nothing today. Why am I exhausted? Well, I got the scare of a lifetime.

     My mother is old, and not in the best of health. It's a little better than average I would say. I took her to Publix to get groceries, and everything was fine. She was moving a little slower than normal, which isn't really saying much. She doesn't move all that fast anymore either. I opened her door and put the groceries in the car, then I took the cart to the cart corral. I turned to walk back and saw her starting to drop to the ground between the door and the car. I ran as fast as I could to her. When I got there she was on the ground and unresponsive. Her eyes were glazed over, and the wouldn't answer me. I picked her up as best I could and then fought to get my phone out of my pocket.  A gentleman asked if I needed help and I said I needed an ambulance. My mom began to slide down again. I threw my phone on the front seat and lifted her up again, she was breathing heavy, but she was starting to be a little responsive. When I got her a little more comfortable, I grabbed my phone again and dialed 911. At that time another man ran over and helped me left her while I was talking to the 911 operator.

    The original gentleman ran in and told management what had happened, and they ran out. Before the ambulance and fire department got there, there were a dozen people wanting to help out. I had my mom leaning on the car rail and my leg for comfort, and the gentleman that ran over was keeping her responsive and telling her to keep looking at him.  With the EMT's on the scene, they quickly took over so that I could fill in the detail to what happened and her medical history and what not. Before they even said they were going to recommend that she go to the ER, I was already nodding yes. They got her to stand up, with help, and get on the gurney.

     The remaining EMT told me where they were taking her, and that it would take time to get her settled in, that was when the manager of Publix asked if I needed to store my groceries with them. I made the decision to get to the house and put the groceries away, to give them the time they needed. Then I headed to the ER.

     I got there and they let me right in to see her. She was in a room covered in wires. She definitely looked better than she did when they put her on the ambulance. Some of her color had returned, she still wasn't all there, but she said she had been asking for me the entire time. The did a few tests, and we had to wait for results before anything could happen. The tests came back normal, but they wanted to keep her overnight to evaluate her since she did collapse with no sign as to why. She didn't want that, but I spoke up, so she stayed. By the time I left the hospital she was ready to go to sleep, but before that, she was feisty, wanting to fight the entire nursing staff to find out what was taking so long.

     Earlier she had fought with one of the nurses about having to use a bed pan. Well, it wasn't a fight as much as when the nurse said that she couldn't stand up and go to the bathroom, do to her collapsing earlier in the day, my mom just said she didn't need to go anymore. After several hours, she was finally given a room. That is when the tech and me had to make a decision. To get her in the bed, there were two options, Option one was to wheel the ER bed in and transfer her over to the hospital bed. Option two was for my mom to walk from the hallway to the bed. Guess which one she wanted to do? You guessed it. She said she could walk. The tech and I looked at each other, and said, what the hell, let's guide her all the way there and see what happens. She handled it like a champ. After her nurse got there, and I was going over her history with him, she finally braved going to the bathroom. I guided her there, and she handled her business. When she came out, she told me to finally get out of there, so she could go to sleep. Her nurse was done with needing any more information from me, and just told me what the plans were going forward. With that all taken care of, I let her get some sleep.

     It was a day. I'm home now, and writing this looking forward to getting her out of the hospital tomorrow. She is a tough old bird and not done with this world yet. Peace in and goodnight.