- April - Swine Flu breaks out! Created emergency 72 kits for the home and cars. This took me forever to plan and was a bit depressing to plan for disaster
- May - Carter has become my shadow and won't let me talk on the phone, play on the computer or watch tv
- June - Carter turns 2 with lots of advancements in his developement. He started sleeping in the pack n play for naps and sometimes at night. Everything is 'scary' and his pronunciation of words is getting more and more clear.
- Infertility - We have been unable to conceive since February. I met with my doctor and they said they would monitor my fallopian tubes to help us judge the best time to try for conception. I need to wait until the new insurance kicks in under Eric's insurance.
Sunday (Father's Day) was a scary, crazy day. We had family in from out of town to celebrate Carter's birthday and had planned on heading to Palm Dale to visit Eric's uncle. I called my mom to check in before we left and found her out of breath, vomiting and begging for help. I jumped in my car and headed to Laguna Woods. Below is the play by play according to my phone/ txt logs:
- 11:50am - Call mom
- 12:00pm - Eric's Aunt is an ER nurse and she has me ask mom questions. Leave my guests, start driving to Laguna Woods and call family for help to get her to emergency or do whatever because mom lives in a two story house and I can't gauge how bad the situation is.
- 12:05pm - Terrie and Dale call me back and say they will meet me at mom's. Yvette hasn't responded yet.
- 12:20pm - Arrive at mom's, run into the house, yell to find out where she is - upstairs. She can't walk or stop vomiting. I can't get her down the stairs.
- 12:30pm - Call 911, Terrie and Dale show up and I run out to the street because I can already hear the fire truck. The neighbors are all watching. Please God let mom live.
- 12:47pm - The fireman get mom downstairs. She can't sit or lay back. The firemen think it's stomach flu, my family disagrees. Terrie gets in the ambulance while Dale and I jump in his car and follow to the hospital.
- 12:50pm- Yvette calls and I try to contact my sister to let her know what's happening
- 1:00pm - Arrive at Saddleback Memorial, but they won't lets us back with Mom.
- 1:42pm - Mom is in severe pain moaning. They haven't given her anything yet. The doctor comes in and pushes on her stomach. It's too low for gallballder. She starts vomiting again can't catch her breath. WHY AREN'T THEY GIVING HER ANYTHING??
- 1:45pm- They finally give mom zofran and some pain meds. I can barely watch her it's taking so long for the meds to kick in. The Dr. calls for a CT scan.
- 2:15pm - Eric txts and says his aunt thinks it a pendicitis. I keep waiting for Terrie to come back to relieve me of my watch, but she has managed to get herself locked outside the hospital while making a cellphone call.
- 2:30pm - Terrie and trade places. I have to go back to mom's house to find her cellphone and call work for her.
- 3:00pm - Dale and I find her phone but can't figure out how to work the stupid thing. Terrie says mom is calmed down.
- 3:16pm- Dale and I head back to hospital in seperate cars.
- 3:26pm- Terrie txts me that a lady is screaming at the top of her lungs in the ER. I start laughing to myself. For some reason I find it funny and then feel guilty.
- 3:41pm-The Dr is back with mom to take her for a CT scan. I left for some reason. Can't remember.
- 4:00pm- I walk to mom's room. Dale, Terrie the nurse and my drugged out mother look at me and smile. It an appendicitis. We all shout hurray! I call Eric and tell him Hilda wins the prize.
- 5:00pm - Mom is wheeled into the prep room where we answer a bunch of questions before she goes into surgery. Her EKG shows a prior heart attack none of us are aware of.. not even her!!! Luckily, the anesthesioligist is a cardiac specialist.. geez!
- 5:15pm - Dr. Lu walks in and sees my mom. She is the doctor who treated dad when he died last year. She said not to worry. It's a simple surgery. Everything will be fine.
- 5:23pm-We pray they can do it laproscopically and leave my precious mother to the doctors.
- 6:30pm- Surgery has started
- 7:30pm - She is out of surgery and in recovery. The doctor said they were able to do it laproscoptically and the appendage had been bad for atleast 5 days. Mom had gone down one of the large inflatable slides at Carter's party the day before and we asked if this had caused any problems. His eyes got big, he said no, but he would have like to have seen it!..hahah. Anyways, he said the appendicts was full of puss and had black spots and would we like to see the pictures..ewwwww. They would keep her in the hospital for 3 days to monitor infection. Terrie and Dale leave. Yvette stays with me.
- 8:00pm- We have to wait 30min for them to get her moved to her room
- 8:30pm - Finally we see her. Her blood pressure is low. Yvette leaves and I stay
- 4:30am- I finally leave for home. Mom's blood pressure is under 100 which could mean internal bleeding, but they aren't too worried yet. She is still very nauseaus
- 4:00pm Monday- We find out mom is in a cardiac ward and they are watching her heart because of the EKG. She is very tired and nauseas. Bp is still too low, but the heart rate is low which they told me was good. If it's high that means blood loss. I stay until 10pm, pray for her and leave.
- 7:30am Tuesday - Her Bp has gone back up and she is no longer nauseas. Now it's all about sleep.
- 2:oopm Wednesday - Mom is released to come home. She tells me it's the first time she was scared to live alone.
As all of this played out, I was once again aware of the timing. When dad died I had family in town. Had they not have been here I would not have had the freedom to go to the hospital.
With mom, it was the same thing and of course, there is more. Mom was so sick and disoriented she couldn't remember anyones number and prayed in her words, 'Lord, you've got help me'. Just then her cellphone rang and it was me, but she was too sick to find the phone in the next room. Then she said she prayed, "Lord have them call back on the home phone", because that is the one she had with her. I hung up and called back on the home phone.
That morning was anxiety filled for me as it was Father's Day and my dad was gone. My dad also missed Carter's 2nd birthday. I had Eric pray for me, but then I needed to speak with my mother. She didn't answer her phone, so I called on the landline and the rest is history.
Before Carter was born there were many times Eric and I came to mom and dad's rescue in the 'nick of time'. The last time I saw my father was at my mom's birthday dinner. I had a strong urge to drive out to their home, even though Carter wasn't feeling well and we had already celebrated her birthday that prior weekend. Two days later Dad was gone. I didn't understand why God had let me be there so many times, but not this time. Was it because I'm a mom now and Carter is my priority? After Dad died I prayed to God, please let me there for her.
Sunday, God honored my prayer. Thank you Lord for letting me be there for my mom and prompting me to call her on the phone. I am so glad I was obedient and called. Mother's are so precious.
One last note. April and May I spent a huge amout of time making emergency 72 hour kits, checking our water supply closet and purchasing a months supply of food. No amount of preparedness would have helped my mom this weekend. It was up to God and the doctors.
We truly are at his mercy. Thankfully he is a merciful God.
