Armed with a printout of the last post, and all of the comments I’ve received … along with a load of dietary information, Doug, Dougie and I went up to see Althea today.

I read her the post … I read her the comments …

She sat with a sheepish grin on her face through the entire thing. When I was done reading, I told her that I wasn’t under any illusions about being able to walk into her house and tell her what to do …

One eyebrow went up, and she smiled and asked: “Do you think someone is going to come into here and tell me what to do?”

Um … no ma’am!!! Absolutely not!

However … I reiterated what I’d told her on the 3rd … I didn’t think she’d live long enough to see her doctor in August if her numbers stayed up between 400 and up over 500 for very long! …. She agreed.

She checked her blood while we were there - 407. This was at 2 PM, and we all knew it would rise substantially as the day wore on. I asked if she’d allow me to call the Emergency Room to ask them if they thought she should come in, with her current numbers. She said I could … and I did. When we hung up, it took less than 10 minutes to be out of the house, and on the way to the ER.

The ER was a little confusing … a lot of new faces. One of the nurses (also new to me) told me that she’d only been working with the young doctor who took care of my Mom-in-Law in the ER for about 2 days. It’s not a teaching hospital … they’d just hired a huge bunch of new physicians.

The young physician was great. He looked over a record of her numbers in the last few months, and he was shocked. He actually wagged his finger at her, and scolded her for not going to the ER when her numbers were that high.

“Well, I was testing it every day.”

“Yes, but you test it so that you can do something about it when it gets too high!”

Of course, they kept her. She’s probably still going through all of the initial poking and prodding even as I write. Just before I left, I could hear the young doctor in the hallway, giving someone instructions to call in an endocrinologist, and the nurse told us that the cardiologist was also on his way in to see her.

They kicked me out just before they brought in an X-ray machine. I knew I was leaving in her in excellent hands.

Teasing, just before I walked out the door, I asked her: “Do you still wuv me? *innocent blink*” … all she did was chortle … she never answered! *gulp!* ;o)

Seriously though, one of the last things I said before leaving was that she had a right to not feel sick all the time, and to have someone actually pay attention to her medical needs. She told me that she couldn’t remember what it was like to not feel sick.

Hopefully, they will not only get her straightened out, they’ll also hook her up with an endocrinologist who will follow her once she’s discharged, and a dietitian who can help her sort out what she can and can’t eat. And then … we’ll have to find her a new PCP …

OH! Before I forget! I got a quick email from my dear friend Joanie this morning. This is what it said:

Hi - just was reading your blog…and who is her dr?

is it B… ? Well you should know that he is moving his practice, and only working with younger patients…no elderly. He and one of his associates are merging with another practice someplace. So if it is B… and his office, she needs to find another physician

hugs

YES! *does a happy little moof dance*

Now that is what I call propitious timing!!!

And … all of you … thank you so very much for your input!!! I read each comment to her … and I’m sure that it was all of you who convinced her to do the right thing. You all rock!

And now … on another note …

Back in May of 2006, I wrote about my daughter, and her struggle with Crohn’s Disease. Unfortunately, the last year has not been kind to her in quite a few ways, and I only yesterday discovered that she’s in the hospital again, and has been there since Sunday. She’s too far away for me to visit, so we’re relying pretty heavily on our Skype accounts to stay in communication.

She will probably not get out there without surgery this time.

She also has a lot of other issues in her life right now - most of which are way beyond a normal person’s endurance, and which I’m not at liberty to write about. Those of you who are praying types … please keep her in mind.

Posted: Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 8:32 pm under: Health & Medicine. Comment Feed (RSS 2.0). Interact: Comment or Trackback.