Not home yet...

"It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma;" - Winston Churchill, 1939

Sorry no post last night...I got home very late...I will explain why later in this post...

Mom continues to baffle all 8 of her doctors...2 neurologists, 2 neurosurgeons, an internist, a vascular surgeon, an opthamologist and an infectious disease doctor...

Sunday involved another MRI...Once again...Completely normal.

She has been improving a little each day, until today. The neurosurgeon and the neurologist came in together to see her this morning to tell her that they were planning on discharging her today. They asked her how she was feeling, and she told them "my left eye is really hurting today." So, the neurosurgeon sent her down for her 4th MRI...This time, just of the eye. This Dr. did not prescribe Ativan for Mom before the test, so by the time she was done laying flat on her back on the hard table, her bad back was killing her. So, by the time she got back to her room, she was in excruciating pain. They gave her some meds to help it, but it really didn't help enough. She barely ate any lunch, and then fought off a headache, and finished the evening off very nauseated.

All of her doctors agreed she could go home today, except the opthamologist and the infectious disease guy. They didn't bother to consult the opthamologist once the infectious disease guy said no. He wants to wait until tomorrow to see how the spinal fluid tests come back. If she does have some sort of virus, he will want to keep her on the full spectrum of the anti-viral meds, and the good ones are only intravenous. They started them as a precaution on Saturday. I am almost hoping they find something...Something curable, simple and easy that explains it all. I am so glad there was no stroke and no aneurysm, but not really comfortable with "no reason." I mean, what do you do to prevent it from happening again? 100 people surveyed, top 5 answers on the board..."Um...Stop Smoking?" Ding ding ding...That is my biggest challenge ahead...Trying to convince her to quit that terrible habit...Talk about a daunting task.

Frankly, I am glad they are keeping her one more night. She should be getting better, not worse. And I was concerned with being able to treat this level of pain at home. The opthamologist and the infectious disease guy should be by in the morning to talk about the results of the spinal tap, and look at her eye again. Maybe she will be home tomorrow.

I did get out to see Dad today. I had to go pay the bill and catch up on a few issues Mom had been addressing before she got sick. He was so sleepy, I didn't stay very long. I also told him I was going home to drive Mom to the eye doctor to get her eye looked at. We are trying to keep him at bay with Mom being absent. I keep saying that she is resting and she has a bad cold and she doesn't want him to catch it. But, our family friend had a good point...He will be confused by the eye patch when he does see her...So, "Operation Eye Patch" is in effect, and we are building our "tangled web" trying to ease him into it. We were hoping that Mom would be able to go to the appt tomorrow, but since she can't, I am thinking "highly contagious Pink Eye" may play a role...That way, we buy more time until she can see him later this week, and explain the eye patch in one fail swoop...If someone else has any better ideas, I am open to them.

I will see Dad tomorrow because he has an appointment with the chemotherapy doctor. So, I plan to go to Mom in the morning in hopes I catch the doctors on their rounds, and then I will walk down to the Cancer Center for Dad's appointment, then back up in hopes that she will be released and I can take her home.

Speaking of which, I am my Mother's daughter, after all, so I went over to her house last night, and was there late tidying up...Washed her sheets, and threw away the old milk and took out the trash...And vacuumed, and wiped everything down with a Clorox wipe...Just like my Mom would do. I don't do this in my own house mind you, but, I know my Mom, and if it is not done, she will do one of two things...Either she will do it herself, or worry about it until it is done. I know I will have missed something, but if I can knock as many of these "worries" out of the way, she will hopefully come home and rest...Fat chance, I know, but I went crazy out of my way to try and help...Kinda like she does with my Dad. So, yes, I realize I have some of the "Dorothy" tendencies...Keep your fingers crossed that at least some of my efforts will pay off. For Dorothy, it is a fine line between, "don't touch my stuff," and "I want this to be done." At least I sleep well at night and let's be honest...I am not a size 2...(I actually eat stuff), and I have youth on my side (LOL)...And I did it for one night...Yes, I can rationalize it all I want, and I just sound more like her...Sheesh...

Anyway, send your good thoughts to us tomorrow...Both with my Mom and Dad.:)

Much love!