There Are Days, Part 2

Mom was greatly relieved to be home. We were assured by the neurologist she would be recovered within a week. I was a little skeptical of this prediction, as I have suffered a brain injury (which is, in essence, what a stroke is) and it took me way longer than a week to be recovered. My own brain injury was far less significant than my mother's, so I doubted the doctor's veracity. Still, I was happy to have her out of that place and was content to have her seen by her regular doctor and referred to a neurologist by him.

Tuesday my husband went down and spent the day with Mom. Her roommate, my sister's best friend since high school, was working, and I was supposed to work, so my husband was "it." We talked several times over the course of the day. I reminded Mom to make an appointment with her regular doctor, which she got for Wednesday.

On Wednesday I went down to spend the day with Mom and take her to her doctor's appointment. The appointment went just fine. I did have to correct things she said from time to time, and add stuff she forgot. I'm glad I was able to be there with her, as it's clear she'll need someone with her at appointments to make sure the story is always straight. Her doctor gave her referrals for a neurologist and a vascular surgeon.

Once I got her home, I made sure she called and made appointments with the neurologist and the vascular surgeon. I also made sure she took her meds, as she had forgotten to take them in the morning.

Mom was very keen to go to bells and choir that afternoon/evening. I headed out to pick up a prescription for Mom and some Rimadyl for my dog, Roxy, and made it back just in time to head to the church for bell rehearsal.

During bell rehearsal, Mom had a difficult time finding the measure the director wanted. I was asked to sit in, and was beside Mom, so I pointed out the appropriate measure to her. She couldn't really keep up, and it wasn't until the end of rehearsal that she was confident enough to ring from time to time.

After rehearsal I noticed Mom was having much more difficulty communicating. Everybody wanted to talk to her and my protective mama-bear side came out. I did my best to shield her somewhat so she didn't have to speak more than necessary. I knew from experience the less she had to think, the better. It was clear to me she was over-tired just from that little bit of mental exercise.

We went and had dinner at the local Subway with another member of the bell and vocal choir. Mom was having trouble getting out what she wanted to say, but didn't seem so bad as to make her go home before choir rehearsal.

The surprise when everyone saw Mom at choir rehearsal was priceless. The choir member we went to dinner with said the bar was being set way too high. Since Mom had come back after having a stroke (and I had come back after shoulder surgery, and another member had come back a week after giving birth with baby in tow) the only acceptable excuse for missing choir rehearsal from now on would be death.

After choir we visited with the other members over cookies and juice for a time before heading home. I drove Mom home before heading home myself, getting me home rather late with an early start working in the morning.

On Thursday my husband went back to Mom's to spend the day. It turned out her roommate had the day off, so he didn't need to be there, but they had been experiencing problems with the wireless internet dropping out, so he stayed to put in a new wireless router and do some other "honey-dos" around the house. Mom had a nail appointment that morning.

I called my husband to see how things were going. He told me, quite casually, Mom thought she had had another stroke, as she wasn't any better than she had been the night before. I can only say I freaked just a little bit. Mom's roommate had already taken her for her nail appointment, but they had put a call in to her regular doctor. To which I said, he's only going to tell us to take her to the ER, after which he'll hang up shaking his head. I had my sister call her friend, as I was pretty sure I was just going to end up yelling.

I was right when I said the doctor would say to take Mom to the ER. I later got a call that they were heading out to Sharp Hospital. I was working, so I had to be kept up to speed through texts and phone calls. It made for a tense and stressful day, but if there's one thing horses can do it's keep me from getting too worked up. If I started exhibiting too much stress energy, the horse I was working on let me know it and right now. I had to breathe and let go of my angst in order to get my work done.

By the time I was finishing the last horse, it became clear I was coming down with some creeping crud. My husband was with my mother, so I needed to go home to feed. I was coughing and sniffling like mad. My husband told me not to bother coming down. The hospital staff had kicked out a woman who was exhibiting signs of illness, even though it was her minor child she was there with. Very strict no sick people other than those being treated policy. They let the mother wait in the waiting room but she had to wear a mask.

The neurologist at the new hospital was filled in on what was going on. In the morning my husband called me and gave me the sketch of what the doctor had said. She was very concerned about the medications Mom was on. Indeed, she called it a "Molotov cocktail she won't wake up from one morning." I was a little skeptical of this and asked for further details. It turned out the doctor thought Mom was on a cornucopia of pain drugs. The drugs she thought Mom was taking should have been on the list of drugs Mom is allergic/reactive to.

The neurologist came in to see Mom and my husband called me so I could participate. My sister was at work and unavailable. So it was on me to make sure things were going right. By this time several tests had been done, most of them repeats of the tests done at Alvarado. The neurologist told us she had "no idea what they were talking about" in reference to the degree of blockage in Mom's carotid arteries. According to this doctor, there was little to no blockage, and certainly not enough to be the prime suspect in Mom's stroke. The neurologist wanted more tests. She was determined to discover what had caused Mom's stroke. She set up for Mom to be seen by a cardiologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist.

I made sure the neurologist knew Mom wasn't on the narcotic medications she had thought Mom was taking. This clearly relieved the doctor. I'm sure she corrected the record. Somewhere along the line, someone had written those drugs in the wrong place.

Further testing came up empty. We still don't know why Mom had a stroke. We expected the neurologist would want to put in arterial filters to help prevent future strokes. This did not turn out to be the case, and once Mom was seen by the various doctors and therapists, she was sprung on Monday.

Unfortunately, as of this morning, Tuesday, Mom was sent back to the hospital by the neurologist because she is experiencing right side numbness. With any luck, it is only a blip and not a new stroke event. The neurologist evidently sent her back more as a precaution than because she thought something was really going awry.

I am far more comfortable with the treatment and attention she is receiving at this hospital.

We have learned a lot of things in this experience. When Mom was first admitted to Alvarado with a suspected stroke, she should not have been given her high blood pressure medications. One of the body's responses to a stroke is to raise blood pressure in an attempt to clear the blood clot/s on its own and increase blood flow to the brain in general. By controlling her blood pressure, the attending doctor made a conscious decision to ignore the ER doctor's concerns. Mom should have been in the MRI within 6 hours of arriving in the hospital. It was well over 24 hours before an image was taken.

My sister asked the neurologist, point blank, if there was any chance of suing Alvarado Hospital over the clear errors they made. The neurologist said it would be very difficult to prove any harm. I suspect if she were able to confidently point to any absolute harm she would be more than happy to testify on Mom's behalf, so I believe her when she says it would be difficult.

I think the biggest lesson I took from this was, never go to Alvarado Hospital!