Hospital Shoes...

So, you remember the "hospital purse" my Mom got me for my birthday? Well, I have added to my collection. Looking for something to read today, I went into the hospital gift shop...No good books or magazines, but, there they were, super cute, and 30% off...Little brown seed beads and sequins, and a square of mother of pearl on top...Yes, in the hospital gift shop. I couldn't resist...A little shoe therapy never hurt anyone.

So, the rest of this blog post has 2 caveats...The first is for everyone...My Dad does not know anything about what I am going to write about, and I would appreciate it if no one mentions anything about any of this to him until I post that he has been told. The second caveat is for Allison and Steph K...If for some reason, either of you are reading my blog on vacation, you need to stop right now, do not read any further, have a wonderful trip, and call me when you get home.

Ok, so here goes...The reason why I was at the hospital today. So, I mentioned that my Mom had a cold, and went home from my Dad a little earlier on Tuesday because she had a cold. She went home and made dinner and went right to bed. She then called my at 11:50 am on Wednesday to tell me that she was feeling really bad, and that she didn't want to risk exposing Dad, so she was going to stay home. I reassured her that I would be there for Dad's dinner and make sure he was set for the evening.

As Dad and I were talking, my cell phone rings, and it is my Mom. I am thinking she is checking up on Dad, and making sure that I am there, so I answer "Hi Mom, I am here, Dad is doing good." Then the response I get is "Aimee, I think I am going blind in my left eye, it won't look straight." So, doing my best to not sound alarmed in front of my Dad, I told her that I would be over soon. I got Dad set up for bedtime, and told him I had to go.

I raced over to my parent's house, and Mom was in bed. I took a look at her eye, and sure enough, it was looking way over to the left, instead of straight ahead. I did some of the stroke tests (smile, squeeze my hands, raise both arms, etc.) and she seemed pretty good, and other than the cold and the eye, she wasn't having any other problems. I took the chance on looking up the symptoms online quickly, and it confirmed what I was feeling, it said "Seek emergency medical help immediately." After a short debate, I took Mom to emergency. If there had been any other symptoms, I would have called 911 (and probably should have, but I got lucky). Got Mom into the ER and they took her right in.

Suspecting stroke or aneurysm, they did a CT and an MRI (I asked her if she saw "Scotch was here" on the inside of the MRI machine), and found nothing that looked like either of those. They were still concerned, so they admitted her and wanted the Opthamologist, the Neurologist and the Neurosurgeon to look at the results first thing in the morning. She got settled into her room and I went home at about 3:30 am. I ran by her house to clean up a few things. What had happened, is she had slept most of the day, and got up to make herself dinner. She made herself 2 fried eggs and toast. She sat down to eat, took one bite, and her vision started blurring, and she got a little dizzy. So, she decided to lay down, and she got up and made her way to the bed, stopping briefly in the bathroom to look at herself, which is when she noticed the eye.

So, I went to her house, cleaned the dishes, took the trash out, and went home. I fed my hungry dogs, and went to bed at about 4:30 am. My plan was to get up and be back at the hospital by 9:oo in hopes of talking to the Dr.s. My plan was shot at 7:50 am when the opthamologist, Dr. Trager called to say that they don't see anything on the films, but he consulted with Dr. Hardy the neurosurgeon (sound familiar?), and they both agreed that they wanted to do an Angiogram. This is a test where they feed a very thin wire up through your femoral artery (near your groin) and using a combination of dye, and x-rays to take a close look at the veins to see if they can find an aneurysm, which is a weakness in the wall of a vein or artery that can cause severe damage or even instant death if it bursts. They said that the test could have complications, but that the benefits outweigh the risks.

So, today, they did the angiogram and what they call an MRA which is like the angiogram, but instead of x-rays, they use the MRI machine. Both the angiogram and the MRA came back completely normal, no sign of aneurysm or stroke. I spoke briefly with Dr. Hardy, and he says they are just puzzled. They cannot find anything. They were suspecting that there is an issue with cranial nerve #3 is either not getting the circulation it needs, or it is being impeded in some way. The cranial nerve #3 controls eye movement, and originates from the brain stem. They did one more MRI this evening on another area of the brain, and we will find out the results tomorrow.

All in all, Mom is feeling ok, other than her cold, which she of course still has, back pain from laying in a strange bed and having to keep laying flat on her back on the hard tables of the machines, oh, and I suspect she is starting to get a visit from the "Nicotine Monster," as she hasn't had a cig in over 24 hours. And she is just really scared.

When Dr. Hardy said that they couldn't find the cause, I asked him if that was good or bad news. He said he wasn't willing to answer that, because he didn't want to make any predictions.

So, please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers, and we will do our best to get through each day. Special thanks to the Helmantolers for coming down today and for taking Dad some Costco pizza. On our instruction, they told him that Mom still wasn't feeling well because of her cold and that I had to work late. I hope to go see Dad tomorrow, but still not sure what I am going to tell him about Mom. I hate to tell him anything until there is something to tell. He gets so worried...He still talks about our family friend who had the seizures all the time. This will probably be really devastating and detrimental. So, again, if you go see him, please don't mention anything to him about Mom.

I am trying to be in like 12 places at once, but I will do my best to keep the blog current with news about both Scotch and Dorth.

Love to all.