I went on a bus trip with the local church group called "The Grown Ups" to an Indian casino about 2-1/2 hours away. We left home at about 8 AM. My husband was going to come but at the last minute he had to stay home because his back was stiffening and the cramped seats on the bus would not have been good for him. My mom and I and our friend Mike sat at the back of the bus. We had a good time chatting the time away.
When we got to the casino we gambled for a while and then my mom and I had lunch with my niece who met us there. After a little more gambling we got back on the bus to go home. Unfortunately, none of us were winners this trip. Since we had spent the way up talking and story telling, on the way home I took out some magazines and was going through them. My mom started to take a nap, I thought.
I looked over at her and I knew immediately there was something wrong. Her eyes were open and staring and she was not responding to my calling her name. "Mom, mom, can you hear me?" Long story short, the bus had to pull over and paramedics were called to come to check her and it was determined that she needed to be taken to the nearest emergency room.
Fortunately it was not anything too serious although at 95 you can never be too careful. Tests were taken and it was determined she had a bit of dehydration and a urinary tract infection. They gave her some fluids and a prescription for an antibiotics. We had to wait in the waiting room for 2 hours while my husband and our daughter came up to get us because of course the bus had gone on home. While we were waiting my mom and I had a discussion about what had happened and she kept saying that because she had felt no pain, she didn't think anything was wrong, although she did admit that earlier in the week she had felt a little woosey at times but she didn't want to tell me because she was afraid I would tell her not to go on the trip or, worse in her eyes, go to the doctors!
I explained to her that she needed to listen to her body more and that feeling woosey is not a normal thing. I also told her that she needs to be more forthcoming with me and tell me when she is experiencing something like that. I can help her decide if it is something that is urgent or if we can wait a bit before going to the doctors. She is still living on her own and drives herself to church and to the grocery store but if she is having "spells" I don't want her doing that. She said she understood.
Do you have parents who listen to you? Do you listen to your body? Can you blame me for scolding my mom?
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