As I sit here in Healthsouth Rehab with my mother on this beautiful Sunday morning, so many things are going through my head. First of all it seems surreal that it has been 16 days since my mother's stroke. The days have both flown by and moved in slow motion. I have to look back to when the bad dream began to give some background to how this journey began.
It was Saturday, May 29th, 2010 (my sister Patti's 56th birthday) and I was up and working at my desk at home, which is not an unusual place for me to be at any given time of the day or night. Suzannah was sound asleep as usual and my cell phone began ringing at 8:20am. I thought to myself, I don't recognize that area code or phone number, but I answered it anyway. I think the Lord was leading me and I didn't even realize it. As soon as the person on the other end said this was Life Alert I went into to running mode. They stated that my Mom had pushed the button on her Life Alert and she was not responding to their calls. Off in my pajamas I run next door to her house, my heart is racing and I do not really know what to expect. I unlock and fling open the door and immediately I notice that the bathroom door is closed. I know that is where she is at and I run to the door and call her name. She is on the other side of the door and she has fallen. I can only open the door about 4". She has fallen against the door and I cannot get to her to help. Life Alert calls and I tell them what is going on, they summon the Fire Department and EMS. I reach into the bathroom and tell Mom that I am with her and that she will be okay. Just touching her arm helps us both to feel a little bit better. I run outside and around the back of the house thinking that I can go through the bathroom window to rescue her, but I can't remove the screen or reach the window.
I decide that it would be best to run home, get my purse, throw on some decent clothes and a bra, because I know that we will be making a trip to the ER today and probably should not go in my pajamas. I wake Suzannah up in a rush and tell her what I need her to do and then I run back to my Mom's house. Mom is still lying on the floor and I tell her that I will not leave her. Shortly thereafter, the Fire Dept. arrives, as well as EMS behind them. Suzannah is in the house with EMS and I have taken the firemen out back to show them the bathroom window. They remove the screen and part of the window and climb in to rescue my Mom. I go back inside the house and the bathroom door is open and the EMS worker's are assisting her into a wheelchair. She states that she is fine. Of course, my Mom always says that she is okay even when she might not be. EMS checks her out and she decides not to go to the ER. Her B/P is fine and they leave. We are to call them if need be.
Shortly after they leave we are talking to her and she just stops in mid-sentence. She says that she needs to go to the bathroom, so Suzannah and I try to help her up and we realize that her legs are not working at all. We realize that she has to go to the ER and be checked out. I call 911 and the same EMS guys come back. We load her up and we go to the ER. I have been trying to reach my sister, Karen and have left messages, I call my sister, Patti, and she is immediately on her way to meet us at the hospital. Suzannah has been left behind since only one of us can go in the ambulance. I felt so sorry for her, she is so upset while watching this unfold. The nightmarish ER experience is the next blog post. It is really quite unbelievable!!
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