She was a patient at GVMH until Monday. The days and nights had their ups and downs - she was confused a couple of times, not even knowing me, but mostly they controlled her pain. She had several visitors - Amanda was there Sunday afternoon, Debbie Sieger, Deb and David Mills, Roberta Edgett, Lisa Wallace, Kelly Briggs, Sherri Albin and Donna Briggs. On Monday, they did an Upper GI on her, as they thought her pain was due to acid reflux. That was ruled out with that test. She was given a stress test to rule out heart problems. They said that her heart was slightly larger on one side than the other, but they still didn't think her pain was due to her heart. They decided it was probably arthritis and muscle problems in her chest and were discharging her with a prescription for Flexiril - a muscle relaxer. Before they got the paperwork done, Mom had a heart attack and was life flighted to St. Luke's Hospital Heart Institute.
David and Deb Mills had come out after one of the nurses who knew we were friends called them. They followed Ron and me to KC so that I would have a car up there when Ron came home. They determined she was stable and decided to wait until Tuesday morning to do the angiogram to see if she would need stents, etc.
Monday night from 10 p.m. - 1 p.m. was absolutely the worst of my life. Mom was delirious and totally not my Mom. She was kicking the nurses, confused, mean - telling me she was so ashamed of me, and what was I thinking bringing her to this place - those were the nicer things she said to me (she doesn't remember any of it, and I will never tell her). They decided maybe she was having another heart attack at one point and did an EKG - it took 6 of us to hold her down for it. It was awful. They finally gave her Heprin and some other sedative, and she went to sleep. She basically slept through the tests, etc. Amanda came to spend the day with Ron and me on Tuesday and was of great comfort and support. Grandma was sure happy to see her when she woke up.
The tests showed she had so much coronary disease and no "hot" arteries, so they could not put in stents - it would have taken too many to do any good. She is not a candidate for bypass surgery because of her age, etc. They will treat her with Plavix and several other medications to open up her arteries and make the blood flow better in her heart.
On Wednesday, Joe came over from St. Louis to visit Grandma. She was discharged about 10 a.m., so he came on to Clinton with Ron, me and Grandma, visiting here until mid-afternoon. She was so pleased he came to see her and enjoyed his visit.
Mom DOES NOT KNOW that she wasn't eligible for stents or by-pass - she just thinks that medication is the best treatment for her, which it is. She is very scared and remembers the pain associated with the heart attack. It was her first ever ride in an airplane (helicopter) - wish she would have been awake for it.
Mom says she does not ever want to go home - she is scared and lonely. For right now, she is living with Ron and me.
Mom has been doing very well, recovering quite nicely. We have her all set in the front bedroom. We all went to Amanda's on Sunday, 11/23/2014. Amanda and Chad had tickets to see the new Hunger Games movie and did some Christmas shopping while we were able to play with the kids and take them to Culvers for lunch. Peyton received an owl craft kit and enjoyed putting it together. Garrison's favorite word yesterday was "never'. Hmmmmmm.
Looking forward to our entire family being together on Thanksgiving - celebrating the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
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