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Mamma Drama
Jan. 10th, 2010 05:26 amFirst of all, I want to thank you all for your concern. I was a little bit of a mess the other day already, because of assholes, and then as soon as I got the call about my mom I sort of went into this weird mood because I was stuck without a car to get to her, and I felt helpless and freaked out, and. Yeah.
So, for a few weeks leading up to Christmas, my mother was really tired. Like, she normally gets up before 8, walks three miles with my grandma, volunteers at the crisis centre, goes to an AA meeting or two, and of course she's a full time student, too, and doesn't get to bed til midnight at the earliest, usually. So, very active. But she was off of school, and she'd get up at 8, take a four hour nap at noon, then go to bed around nine. We all thought, since my father killed himself at the end of November, and since his birthday and my mom's are in December, that she was just depressed.
I was up quite late on Christmas Day when I heard a huge crash upstairs. I thought it was the dogs (my mom has three and they're all the fussy sort, so you never know) and didn't think anything else until Ron (my mom's fiance) came down a few minutes later for ice. It turned out that my mom had got up to go to the bathroom, came out saying her chest hurt, then collapsed. She hit her head and got a nasty bump on the back, and got two huge, bloody gashes on her back from hitting the dresser.
I was insistent that we call 911, but she didn't want to make a fuss, so I just sat up with them for a few hours. When she got up the next day she said she was fine, but she promised me she'd go to the doctor on Monday. My mom's as stubborn as I am, so I didn't argue with her. When I called her a few days later, she said everything was fine.
Except, apparently, she's been sleeping 17-20 hours a day, only getting up to go to classes, and on her drive home Friday started having the chest pains again.
The hospital ran all sorts of blood tests, an EKG, Stress test, Hypothalamus tests, and a bunch of other things I can't remember. The nurses were all nice, but then the doctor came in, and he was young, but I'm not the sort of person to think that age has much to do with knowledge/ability, so...Except then my mom was describing her symptoms and she was saying that her legs had been feeling weird, almost like she was hyper-aware of them and he goes, in this super belligerent tone of voice, "What is that even supposed to mean? What do you want me to do with that?" And me and Muse and my sister all just jaw drop at each other, and I called him out on it, and he was like "well, I have no idea what she's talking about, how am I supposed to treat it?" and I'm like "uh, your a doctor, that's your job. If its a symptom you don't understand, that doesn't mean you disregard it." Plus he asked her all these leading questions to fit his pet theory, and even when she answered negatively, he kept trying to twist it around.
I spoke to a nurse later, and she led me to believe that this wasn't the first time someone had complained, and went in and spoke with my mom for almost an hour to reassure her, since at this point the doctor had made her feel really stupid, and like the whole thing was a waste of time and money.
In the end, after overnight observation and more tests, they decided on high blood pressure and gave her a prescription, but I'm not convinced. I mean, I'm no doctor, but don't you pass out when your blood pressure is *low*?
Gah, just another reason to hate doctors...
D:
I just don't want to lose my mom. She's young (50) and in good shape, and I already lost my dad. I can't go through that again.
On a happier note, I finally got a bunch of my holiday pictures on my computer, so I can put those up soon, and you can all laugh at my family's fail.
So, for a few weeks leading up to Christmas, my mother was really tired. Like, she normally gets up before 8, walks three miles with my grandma, volunteers at the crisis centre, goes to an AA meeting or two, and of course she's a full time student, too, and doesn't get to bed til midnight at the earliest, usually. So, very active. But she was off of school, and she'd get up at 8, take a four hour nap at noon, then go to bed around nine. We all thought, since my father killed himself at the end of November, and since his birthday and my mom's are in December, that she was just depressed.
I was up quite late on Christmas Day when I heard a huge crash upstairs. I thought it was the dogs (my mom has three and they're all the fussy sort, so you never know) and didn't think anything else until Ron (my mom's fiance) came down a few minutes later for ice. It turned out that my mom had got up to go to the bathroom, came out saying her chest hurt, then collapsed. She hit her head and got a nasty bump on the back, and got two huge, bloody gashes on her back from hitting the dresser.
I was insistent that we call 911, but she didn't want to make a fuss, so I just sat up with them for a few hours. When she got up the next day she said she was fine, but she promised me she'd go to the doctor on Monday. My mom's as stubborn as I am, so I didn't argue with her. When I called her a few days later, she said everything was fine.
Except, apparently, she's been sleeping 17-20 hours a day, only getting up to go to classes, and on her drive home Friday started having the chest pains again.
The hospital ran all sorts of blood tests, an EKG, Stress test, Hypothalamus tests, and a bunch of other things I can't remember. The nurses were all nice, but then the doctor came in, and he was young, but I'm not the sort of person to think that age has much to do with knowledge/ability, so...Except then my mom was describing her symptoms and she was saying that her legs had been feeling weird, almost like she was hyper-aware of them and he goes, in this super belligerent tone of voice, "What is that even supposed to mean? What do you want me to do with that?" And me and Muse and my sister all just jaw drop at each other, and I called him out on it, and he was like "well, I have no idea what she's talking about, how am I supposed to treat it?" and I'm like "uh, your a doctor, that's your job. If its a symptom you don't understand, that doesn't mean you disregard it." Plus he asked her all these leading questions to fit his pet theory, and even when she answered negatively, he kept trying to twist it around.
I spoke to a nurse later, and she led me to believe that this wasn't the first time someone had complained, and went in and spoke with my mom for almost an hour to reassure her, since at this point the doctor had made her feel really stupid, and like the whole thing was a waste of time and money.
In the end, after overnight observation and more tests, they decided on high blood pressure and gave her a prescription, but I'm not convinced. I mean, I'm no doctor, but don't you pass out when your blood pressure is *low*?
Gah, just another reason to hate doctors...
D:
I just don't want to lose my mom. She's young (50) and in good shape, and I already lost my dad. I can't go through that again.
On a happier note, I finally got a bunch of my holiday pictures on my computer, so I can put those up soon, and you can all laugh at my family's fail.
