09-14-2022, 08:28 AM
So...yesterday, around 4:30p I get a call at the office from my mom. I find an empty meeting room and answer it, except it's not my mom, it's someone from the fire department saying my mom has fallen in the pet food store parking lot and can I pick her up and take her to Kaiser. I'm 7 min away and pack up and head over and I get a call from my mom (for real this time) saying that she's fine, but just can't put weight on her leg and is going to ride the ambulance over and I should just meet here there. Cut to Kaiser Emergency. With COVID protocols, you have to run several security gauntlets before you can get in the building and since my mom just arrived, she hasn't been assigned a room, so they won't let me in. They tell me to wait 10 min. I try again and am led to her room in the green section of the ER. It's after 5pm. Eventually, someone does an intake and collects her copay. An attendant gets her vitals. I tell him to make sure they don't cut off the wrong leg. We all laugh...
Then much later, we talk to a doctor who gets her history and says we'll need to look at the xrays. We don't know at this point how long she'll be there.
We wait until ~7p, I step out and go to the Apple Park cafe where I can grab a free meal. I still have to figure out how to get her car back to her house and feed her dogs. I remember DM sometimes is over in Sunnyvale in the beginning of the week, so I check the forum. He's here, so I use my "phone a doom brother" - he's willing and able...Thanks DM!
I go back to the ER for an update...still no Xrays, no doctor update...no update of any kind. We sit and sit...time passes. This is the very boring part of the moving that needs judicious cut scenes. Finally, around 8p, I decide to go to the nurses desk to ask for an update and get scolded to wait back in the room. No update. We're in the room talking about how we don't know what's going on, or how long they'll keep her, and what to do about the dogs and the car. Generally frustrated and the scolding nurse comes back in with a male nurse and scolds us some more. Essentially saying You're not dying...we'll get to you when we get to you.
Finally, the male nurse comes back in about 20 min later to take my mom to xray. I head over to get DM and do some car shuffling.
We get to my mom's, I feed the dogs and then drop DM back off.
Back to the ER for an update. No results yet...more waiting. Around 9:30p, the doctor makes a second appearance. She says sorry that took so long. It appears my mom has fractured her pelvis and they need to consult the orthopedic. Not for surgery, but to figure out the recovery. She's going to have to stay overnight, but since the Kaiser hotel os overbooked, she gets to stay in her current ER suite.
I make another trip back to her house to get some basics (meds, toothbrush, hairbrush) so she can do the overnight. We'll get news about the recovery plan sometime this morning. So I go back to her house and crash.
Thanks again DM, I really appreciate it!
This morning, I'm heading back to get the latest news.
--tg
My mom complains often that she is shrinking. I said you'd think that being closer to the ground, falling wouldn't hurt as much...
Then much later, we talk to a doctor who gets her history and says we'll need to look at the xrays. We don't know at this point how long she'll be there.
We wait until ~7p, I step out and go to the Apple Park cafe where I can grab a free meal. I still have to figure out how to get her car back to her house and feed her dogs. I remember DM sometimes is over in Sunnyvale in the beginning of the week, so I check the forum. He's here, so I use my "phone a doom brother" - he's willing and able...Thanks DM!
I go back to the ER for an update...still no Xrays, no doctor update...no update of any kind. We sit and sit...time passes. This is the very boring part of the moving that needs judicious cut scenes. Finally, around 8p, I decide to go to the nurses desk to ask for an update and get scolded to wait back in the room. No update. We're in the room talking about how we don't know what's going on, or how long they'll keep her, and what to do about the dogs and the car. Generally frustrated and the scolding nurse comes back in with a male nurse and scolds us some more. Essentially saying You're not dying...we'll get to you when we get to you.
Finally, the male nurse comes back in about 20 min later to take my mom to xray. I head over to get DM and do some car shuffling.
We get to my mom's, I feed the dogs and then drop DM back off.
Back to the ER for an update. No results yet...more waiting. Around 9:30p, the doctor makes a second appearance. She says sorry that took so long. It appears my mom has fractured her pelvis and they need to consult the orthopedic. Not for surgery, but to figure out the recovery. She's going to have to stay overnight, but since the Kaiser hotel os overbooked, she gets to stay in her current ER suite.
I make another trip back to her house to get some basics (meds, toothbrush, hairbrush) so she can do the overnight. We'll get news about the recovery plan sometime this morning. So I go back to her house and crash.
Thanks again DM, I really appreciate it!
This morning, I'm heading back to get the latest news.
--tg
My mom complains often that she is shrinking. I said you'd think that being closer to the ground, falling wouldn't hurt as much...