Blah! I'm behind on work. I'm behind on housework. I'm behind on laundry. I have two kids staying home from school today so I can get them caught up on doctor and dentist visits. I'm not one to usually have them skip school for check-ups, but the late afternoon evening appointments are at premium and I didn't plan ahead...for a 6:30 p.m. dentist appt. I'd be waiting another month or more. And one is already 3 months behind on the doctor and the other is 3 months behind on the dentist. And our doctor and dentist are both a half-hour away. I just feel incredibly overwhelmed as every time I seem to be getting caught up, something throws me further behind.
I've gotten even more behind after the weekend. I worked at the hospital Saturday (one of only four days I work this month) and when I stopped in the cafeteria for lunch, I noticed they had beef barley soup. I thought dad would like that so I got some to drop off for him. On the way home, I stopped and went to the side door like I normally do. No one answered. I used my key to get in and saw no one, but the bedroom door was closed. I figured they were both napping. I put the soup in the fridge then went to leave. I turned back and decided I'd leave a note that the soup was in the fridge. I went over to my mom's chair by the front window. As I reached for some paper, I heard a thud outside the window. I figured it was a squirrel knocking something down. Then I saw my dad fall. I ran outside and helped him up. He was disoriented, but talking - insisting he was ok. Then his eyes rolled back a little, but he was talking the whole time.
A couple minutes later his eyes started rolling back again and he wasn't answering me. I reached for the door so I could grab the phone to call 9-1-1, but as I moved he slumped over. I grabbed him and held him up so he wouldn't fall again and as I was on the phone with a dispatcher, he came to - again insisting he was fine and not to have the ambulance come. A police car immediately pulled up and as we were explaining to the officer what had happened, his eyes rolled back again, he wasn't answering me and his arm went up in the air and started twitching. It didn't last long and the officer then explained that he'd just had a small seizure and needed to go the hospital. The ambulance showed up. He signed a refusal and they left. *Sigh* He kept putting his head down and closing his eyes and told me he just wanted to go lay down and rest.
I called my husband, a paramedic, told him what happened and he said what I knew he'd say - Dad needed to go to the hospital. He came over to the house, explained things to Dad a little more bluntly and it did the trick. He said "Ok" and was still walking a little unsteady and kind of crooked, saying he landed on his back and his back was stiff. My husband got him to the car. I took him to the ER. Seven hours later I was finally heading home and dad was in a hospital room, annoyed he was being admitted, although just for a short time. He's been incredibly cheery and friendly with everyone at the hospital.
A cat scan was clear of any brain injury, but his sugar was high and he was diagnosed as diabetic. The next day an xray confirmed that he'd cracked some ribs. He kept insisting he didn't have back pain, just stiffness and "just when I move" he said. I urged him to take some pain medication because he looked very uncomfortable. He finally conceded and then said he felt much better. He's the classic stubborn male with the old-school attitude that you don't go to the doctor unless something is wrong. Well, for most of his life nothing has been wrong -- that he knew of, so he stayed away. Aside from a skin cancer operation 26 years ago, he's always been healthy -- not even a cold, which he's always prided himself on -- and I don't ever remember him going to the doctor. Well, scratch that -- he did fall in January and fractured his ankle.
Anyway, Dad's still in the hospital to return home tomorrow it sounds. Thankfully I showed up at just the right moment or who knows how long he'd been laying there before someone found him, especially since the sun was starting to go down and the spot he fell in was behind a brick barrier outside the front of the house. So glad it wasn't worse than it was, but I don't think he has any idea that recovering from cracked ribs and adjusting to a diabetic lifestyle is going to be quite a challenge.
So, I better to back to catching up in the pockets of time that I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment