Medical Update on Mum

Well, my poor Mum is back in the hospital, and the frustrating thing is that it seems we're back to square one. No diagnosis, and no idea exactly what she has, since the doctors seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to taking definitive tests.



Mum was released last Thursday, but has suffered an acute attack at least once a day since then. Mum hates being at the hospital, so she resisted being taken back in, and my Dad, hoping it was something that would just get better, didn't feel it was necessary to take her back either. (Please feel free to read in-between the lines and diagnose FRUSTRATION). As Mum was getting worse and worse, we were finally able to convince her that she needed to go back and get some more tests done. (Can I just say that Mum has given birth to three children without the need of pain medicines, and she classifies her headaches as going from a "4 to a 10" in a second".)



See, the amazing thing to me is that the doctors released her from the hospital without a diagnosis. They let her go home with a "well, you could have viral meningitis (a painful disease that nevertheless goes away in 7-10 days) or a sub-arachnoid aneurysm". Of course, they were also talking about the possibility of it being Herpes Encephalitis, but as the test they were supposed to give her happened to get lost, we don't know if it "could be that, too".



My dad is an optimist, and believes it's Viral Meningitis, and will thus go away on its own. If so, that's wonderful, and we're all happy. However, since we don't know, it seems bordering on insanity not to make sure that it's not a potentially fatal aneurysm. What makes it worse is that my mom has all the classic symptoms of an aneurysm, and only one of viral meningitis.



Basically, what the rest of us are hoping (other than that she miraculously gets well) is that she'll consent to do an angiogram. It's invasive, but the success rate is 99% (fatalities are almost nil) and has the best chance of find the source of the bleed. Recovery time is really good, too. What's holding her back is 1) Dad doesn't want her to have it done, and 2) the doctor seems to be dragging his feet about it.



On a positive note, Mum's doing MUCH better today, and seems almost normal. (The bad thing is that Dad now seems to think she's fine and should go home again). As this happened the last time, we're hoping she'll stay until the doctors find something. They did (another) MRI last night, and we're waiting to see the results of the tests. As they never did find out if she has Viral Meningitis, that's still up in the air, too.



Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. Thanks also again for the wonderful people taking care of my house and pets. Hunny Bunny and Rhapsody are very grateful, I'm sure.



The one thing about all of this that I am happy about, is that I am in the Sunny South, while the rest of the poor souls living in the Frigid North are being buried in snow. Hee hee, it's difficult not to feel smug. Right now all the Southern locals are talking about the "cold" temperatures of 45 degrees. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . .