Where have I been for the past week? You may or not care to ask....However, it has been a doozy......
Fade to black......
AS you know, the big leftie has been sick for 9 or so months. It has been bad....really bad.....Bad like....I am scared bad.....
Anyway, we thought we figured it out with the allergies and asthma. Yet, his voice continued to be be garbled and he had laryngitis. It was weird.
After seeing countless specialists, the ENT finally noticed that his vocal cords were paralyzed.
Yes, the word is paralyzed.
Then he noticed that his upper body was weak as well as his facial muscles....
Are you thinking what I am thinking? If so, do you think that I had a major nuclear meltdown?
Well, I did.....but not too much since I had to spring into action.
The ENT wanted him to have a MRI of the brain and see a neurologist.....Feeling my angst yet? Oh, I had it.
Deep breathing....yoga....mediation......
We had to wait over a week for the neurologist's appointment but had the MRI on the Monday before Easter. Did I drive him to the appointment? Uh, is the Pope Catholic?
Of course, I drove him to his MRI and sat in the waiting room doing laps around my rosary. I was in full blown BP Mom mode. Nothing was stopping this person from storming heaven with prayers and getting my kid the best care...I do mean the best....
So, we waited for the neurologist appointment on Good Friday...and waited...and waited....I started to receive questions like this:
"Do I have ALS?"
BPM: Of course not!
"DO I have MS?"
BPM: Seriously? Stop googling this!
"Do I have MD?"
Thinking about this one, I was really happy that I use to support the Jerry Lewis Labor Day MD telethon.
NO! You probably have a virus that attacked your nerves and they will regenerate. Stop looking things up on the internet.
Yet, I did not take my own advice. Yes, as a health care professional, I know that he could be suffering from any of these afflictions. But for the sake of my sanity, I chose the road of denial. Yep, nothing is wrong...nothing is wrong...nothing is wrong.....
Dr. G was able to get a copy of the brain MRI which was normal....whew! I gave heaven a shout out on that one.
Next, Friday came....it was Good Friday. But was it going to be a good Friday?
The appointment was moved from 4:30 to 3 pm and we entered s real snazzy office....it was new construction and new chairs and paint that was not chipped. Very nice....
We waited over an hour. Before the MD walked in, I said to the big kid, "he better apologize for keeping us waiting for over an hour." That would tell me what kind of man he was.
Then he entered...a little guy, balding....no eye contact...no apology....I started an immediate dislike simmer in my belly....
He went behind his fancy computer and never looked up. He asked questions and looked for lab reports. After a long period of questions and answers, he listened to the kid's lungs. I was not feeling the love at this point.
Then he began to speak and repeated himself six times.....you have a bulbous voice, garbled speech, weakness in your upper extremities. You need to be admitted to the hospital now. Not the local hospital five minutes from your house but the big teaching inner city hospital that can perform tests that we cannot on the weekend. You need to go downtown NOW!
OK, let's take a step back. In the four minutes that you have seen my son, you are going to admit him to an inner city hospital. Are you going to be his MD?
"NO, they have specialists for him downtown."
Crud...double crud...triple crud.....
In a way, I was glad that someone finally pulled the trigger to find out what is wrong, yet I could not help but think that this guy had a barbecue scheduled for the shore this weekend and did not want a 6'4" distraction.
Uh, so what do we do?
"I called downtown. They know that you are coming. You will be admitted through the ER."
Crud...double crud....triple crud....This means trouble. You know what ERs are like, especially on holiday weekends....and the inner city ERs act as primary health care for the people who do not have insurance, which is sad, because they wait longer than we did for this neurologist to see us. In other words, I predicted a long waiting period for us as we twiddle our thumbs and think the worse case scenarios.
After having a quick dinner, we headed into the city. Yes, I was distracted and got lost going to the university hospital where I had completed my graduate work. Who cares? Saw an accident in front of me and I drove around it with ease. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to our destination.....
Then we got there.....If we were at the DMV, our number would have been 740 and they were only taking care of 164. Yep, crowded....dirty.....broken chairs.....crying children.....sad and sick people and us.....We found a spot and waited.
After an hour, we were taken to an ER room and left there.....all night...that's right...all night. The RNs and MDs were terrific, but we waited all night for a bed. During this time, I made multiple laps around my rosary which kept me focused on what had to be done. Before we left for the city, I stopped for gas. The kid went into the store and grabbed his TastyKakes, hot chocolate and Snickers bar. He gave me the Snickers bar which I vowed not to eat....until 1 am then I ate half...then at 2:30, I polished it off. Yes, chocolate and sugar works wonders to keep a momma awake. I kept telling him to sleep and I would keep a watch out for the staff.
Around 5 am, the big kid was finally taken to his room on the 9th floor. I met his nurse and knew I had to leave for some sleep or fall asleep in my car. I had a choice. She seemed great and I vowed to be back before noon.
He was settled, so I left....drove home and landed up in bed at 6 am.
More tomorrow.....
Peace!
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