April 7 – “Oralee Outlook”

We had a bit of a scare last night.  To start with, we were watching the last part of the women’s NCAA semi-final basketball game (No, that didn’t have anything to do with the story, but the game between Notre Dame and UConn should be a doozy on Tuesday night.  First time two undefeated teams will be playing for the national championship).  For no apparent reason Mom started shivering, almost violently.  Chris got her covered with a few blankets and she eventually settled down enough to fall asleep on the couch.  It took a while to wake her up enough to get her into bed, but that finally accomplished, we headed on to be ourselves around 10:00 or 10:30. 

Around 1:00 (that would be a.m.), Chris got up to help Mom get to the bathroom, not an unusual occurrence since it happens virtually every night, multiple times a night.  What was not so usual came when Chris called out to me for some help.  I jumped up and found the two of them in the hallway, Mom draped across Chris like a limp dishrag.  I helped Chris lower her to the floor.  We tried talking to her for several minutes, and both of us even got dressed, anticipating making a call to 911 and a trip to the emergency room.  At first she didn’t really respond to anything we said.  She was pale and clammy.  Chris had a hard time finding a pulse and rushed back into our room to get the blood pressure cuff.  The pressure on her arm seemed to shock her back into reality, though, and she groaned that it hurt.  The blood pressure was fine, and by the time Chris removed the cuff, Mom had started to respond to Chris.  Her first words had something to do with being cold (imagine that), and she was confused as to why she was on the floor.  Chris told her she had passed out on the way to the bathroom, and Mom wanted to know how she got this far with no help.  Chris assured her that she had been with her the whole time.  Chris also asked a few questions to try to determine if anything in particular might be going on.  About the only thing Mom reacted to was Chris’ queries about her legs hurting.  A few weeks ago Mom had a cortisone shot in her left hip for arthritis.  She did react to Chris’ touch there, but her main complaint was her right leg.  She was able to move it, but she was convinced that there was no way it would work to hold her up.  With much coaxing, we managed to get her to sit up, and after a time to get settled there, we were even able between us to get her up and back to the bed.  Thank goodness it was only a few steps away.  We were really conflicted about what to do next.  Should we go ahead and call 911?  Should I call the fire department directly?  Should we wake up Nathan and get a fresh pair of eyes on the situation?  We finally decided that since she was finally back asleep, we would try to get some sleep as well.  That was a long time coming, but we did get in a few hours of rather fitful shut-eye.

This morning the issue still remained.  Chris and I both showered, and had some breakfast in anticipation of a long day.  I texted Nathan to touch base with him and see if he was at work today.  He called back from work, and he pretty much concurred that she should be seen to get the hip/leg checked out.  Chris told him that this was more of a courtesy call than anything.  She thought it would be better for him to hear from us that there was an issue rather than to hear it go out as a 911 call over his radio at work.  As of this writing Mom has fallen back to sleep, so we’ll wait until she wakes up, see how she’s doing then, and most likely make the call for ambulance transport then.  Now to see what work I can get accomplished before she wakes up.  Read here … “deep breath, long exhale.” 

Isaiah 46:4 says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Father, one of those beloved gray-haired ones of yours needs some extra-special care today.  Walk with Mom.  Amen.