December 18, 2009

You would think that mom would have enough to do with two invalids in the house, being a temple worker in Redlands, and Family Home Evening with friends in Rowland Heights. Nooooo, she had to make things more difficult.

I had recovered enough from my accident, that I had returned to work and was able to care for most of my needs by this time in December. I was sitting at home in the my room resting when the phone rang. A male voice asked for Katheryn (mom) and I said no, she wasn't there. (muffled sound) The voice asked for me. When I answered yes, the voice told me that mom had been in an accident, that she was alert and the paramedics were there. She was being taken to the nearby hospital. I got off the phone and called my sister Kathy at the same time, hollering for Leo. Kathy took off down the Pomona freeway, while I called the police to find out where the paramedics were taking her. She was taken to Loma Linda University Hospital. Kathy and I went into the hospital room where she was lying on a guerney, a cervical collar on and cuts and nick over her face. There was a small matted area of blood in the hair on the back of her head. We waited and waited and as we waited the blood pooled onto the bed. We finally asked a nurse if anyone was going to take care of the cut on her head when the blood started to pool onto the floor under the guerney. You should have seen the staff run for a doctor, and immediately, the doctors came in and stitched or rather stapled her head together.

We found out later that she had broken her back in four places. She was kept in the collar for for several days and then fitted for a full back brace. It was determined that she was not a candidate for surgery. We would tease her in the days to come that she was a turtle with a shell on her chest and one on her back. She was in the hospital for almost a week and then transferred to a nursing facility. Nothing can be worse than to be a nurse working in the convalenscent care field, and put into one of them yourself. Of course she was a very impatient patient and as her daughter, I was no better. Both of us were relieved when she was able to be brought home.

So the invalid was home taking care of an invalid. I used a full week of vacation with doctor appointments between myself and my mother. Fortunately my work allowed me to change my working hours so that I could have the late afternoon off.

The final result is that mom has so much bone deteriation, as seen in a MRI scan, that the usual option of fusing the bones was not an option. Mom would be in a back brace for the rest of her life. As time went on and mother healed she made a decision. She would not spend the rest of her life in a brace. The impact of that decision is that if she were to fall or have another accident , it might prove fatal.

Today mom is active and back to her usual routine although she might be more tired than before. Once again God has protected our family.