Oof. Not a good morning here. I am having a bit of a rough time. Lots and lots of emotions. I am trying to process everything and it is going to be a bit rough. I hope that you all don't mind being my therapists and sounding board while I do that.
My mom's appt went much worse than either of us were expecting. I knew that she wasn't going to get good news but wasn't expecting it to be so bad. :sad:
So her heart is very weak and her mitral valve is leaking a lot. Her other health concerns- the anxiety attacks, the reflux, the coughing and hoarseness- may all be caused by the heart weakness.
She is set up for a catheterization on Monday and if there are any blockages, he will place stents in automatically.
He is going to see if they can fix the valve with medication but says she will probably need valve surgery which sounds pretty complex. He doesn't do that surgery, you need a valve surgeon for that. He is changing up a few more meds and will be tweaking them over time. And she is being fitted for a Life Vest today. It is a portable defibrillation device that she will wear and if her heart stops it will automatically kick in. They will come to the house and set her all up.
The dr and office are great. He was fantastic and as I read over my scribbled notes, he took the notebook from me and corrected my Rx names that I had sounded out incorrectly, rewrote them and added the dosages :grin: At first, the cath. scheduler said that the first available appt was in 2 weeks and I stepped in to say that the Dr wanted her in ASAP and she was able to get in on Monday. I had to drive my mom around to find an open lab so she could get her blood drawn. The one that is on the first floor of a building closed 5 minutes before we got there. (My mom gets out of breath with 1 flight of stairs and never does elevators). The second one I took her to is on the first floor, so I dropped her off, told her to take them slowly and I went up on the elevator to get her signed in, in case they closed early too. She is so dehydrated that they had a hard time getting blood.
After all that, we got back to her house and explained everything to my dad. I could see in his face that he was shaken up too. But I lectured him to not stress her out or bicker or I was going to sic Caitlyn on him- which got a laugh. My brother texted me while I was heading home for an update so I had to pull over to give him the condensed version and he called me back so I was able to give him some more info while I was driving. (I really need to figure out how to reply to texts through the car/Bluetooth.) I also warned him that he better not call her on the hour, every hour like I know that wants to.
Needless to say, we are not going down the shore for vacation next week. I am really disappointed (GOD I need a vacation even if only for a few days!) which in turn is making me feel like a horrible daughter. Of course, that meant I had my recurring Disney dream last night to rub salt into the wound. Cait is telling me that is all normal. And I know deep down it is.
But man, I am a mess.
My mom and dad are coming up for bagels on Sunday, she wants to see the kids. She doesn't want me at the hospital on Monday but I will probably go down to sit with her at home on Tuesday. I offered to go to her house on Monday to clean or cook some dinners. It is what she would do for me. She didn't want that either and I am going to have to respect that. The cardiologist wants to monitor her weekly so I am sure I will be there often enough.
I am off to clean today- a good day to deal with other people's messes that I have no responsibility over. :razz: It is going to rain today so maybe I can do some scrap therapy later on.
::grouphug
My mom's appt went much worse than either of us were expecting. I knew that she wasn't going to get good news but wasn't expecting it to be so bad. :sad:
So her heart is very weak and her mitral valve is leaking a lot. Her other health concerns- the anxiety attacks, the reflux, the coughing and hoarseness- may all be caused by the heart weakness.
She is set up for a catheterization on Monday and if there are any blockages, he will place stents in automatically.
He is going to see if they can fix the valve with medication but says she will probably need valve surgery which sounds pretty complex. He doesn't do that surgery, you need a valve surgeon for that. He is changing up a few more meds and will be tweaking them over time. And she is being fitted for a Life Vest today. It is a portable defibrillation device that she will wear and if her heart stops it will automatically kick in. They will come to the house and set her all up.
The dr and office are great. He was fantastic and as I read over my scribbled notes, he took the notebook from me and corrected my Rx names that I had sounded out incorrectly, rewrote them and added the dosages :grin: At first, the cath. scheduler said that the first available appt was in 2 weeks and I stepped in to say that the Dr wanted her in ASAP and she was able to get in on Monday. I had to drive my mom around to find an open lab so she could get her blood drawn. The one that is on the first floor of a building closed 5 minutes before we got there. (My mom gets out of breath with 1 flight of stairs and never does elevators). The second one I took her to is on the first floor, so I dropped her off, told her to take them slowly and I went up on the elevator to get her signed in, in case they closed early too. She is so dehydrated that they had a hard time getting blood.
After all that, we got back to her house and explained everything to my dad. I could see in his face that he was shaken up too. But I lectured him to not stress her out or bicker or I was going to sic Caitlyn on him- which got a laugh. My brother texted me while I was heading home for an update so I had to pull over to give him the condensed version and he called me back so I was able to give him some more info while I was driving. (I really need to figure out how to reply to texts through the car/Bluetooth.) I also warned him that he better not call her on the hour, every hour like I know that wants to.
Needless to say, we are not going down the shore for vacation next week. I am really disappointed (GOD I need a vacation even if only for a few days!) which in turn is making me feel like a horrible daughter. Of course, that meant I had my recurring Disney dream last night to rub salt into the wound. Cait is telling me that is all normal. And I know deep down it is.
But man, I am a mess.
My mom and dad are coming up for bagels on Sunday, she wants to see the kids. She doesn't want me at the hospital on Monday but I will probably go down to sit with her at home on Tuesday. I offered to go to her house on Monday to clean or cook some dinners. It is what she would do for me. She didn't want that either and I am going to have to respect that. The cardiologist wants to monitor her weekly so I am sure I will be there often enough.
I am off to clean today- a good day to deal with other people's messes that I have no responsibility over. :razz: It is going to rain today so maybe I can do some scrap therapy later on.
::grouphug
