My mother is still in the hospital. Her Calcium levels have gone down to an acceptable level, but she still has a really high heartrate and some difficulty breathing due to all of the fluids that they were giving her to bring down the Ca. She's been poked and prodded and stuck with needles over and over again. They changed her pain meds because what she was on was making her incredibly lethargic. Now, she's less lethargic, but the pain is a little more intense, and now she's developed a fever.
After our family meeting on Monday, I was designated as the healthcare contact person for my mom's care. I'm sure that the nurses are sick of me at this point, since I'm constantly asking them "why" and "what's next" and "what were the results of [whatever] test." I wanted this responsibility because I need to know what's going on. Considering that this situation is still fraught with questions and uncertainty, knowing what the doctors and nurses are doing every single step of the way is my only way of keeping some semblance of control. And, I just hate the not knowing part. But things are starting to make sense from a medial standpoint, so that's a relief. There's still so much that has to happen before my mom will be ok (or even ok enough to go home), but I am relieved to know that there's some sort of a plan.
Now I'm exhausted - physically and mentally. My muscles actually ache as if I've just had a strenuous workout. I went to work today just to get a break from spending every waking minute at the hospital with my mom. And if I'm not there, I (or my sister M) is at the house checking in on Dad, doing laundry, etc. Oh yeah, and we've been calling friends and family to postpone Saturday's surprise birthday fete for my soon-to-be-septuagenarian father. For now, I'm going to try and get some sleep, and hope that I can actually sleep through the night, which is a luxury that I haven't had in forever. Sigh. And ZZZZZZZ.......
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