Friday, March 22, 2013

Guess Where We Are?

 

If you guessed “the Keys”, then you’d be wrong.

Sometimes it seems things are not meant to be.  We have been trying to get down to the Keys for almost week and it seems that one thing after another keeps delaying our departure.

Our latest plan was to head out last Thursday morning. 

I had made another reservation at Jonathan Dickinson State Park for one night, as a half way point to the Keys.  We’re just not up for a 400 mile drive.  Well, we are, but we just need two days to do it.  :)

 

Anyway……I called Mom Wednesday night.  (you see where this is going, don’t you?)

She mentioned that she got a voicemail message directly from her wonderful doctor, and he said he needed to speak to her, and to call him back first thing Thursday morning.  She had just had some blood work done in follow up to a change in her thyroid medicine.  We thought it was probably that, but she thought he sounded worried and that worried her.  We were also a bit concerned that he himself called, and  not the nurse.

She tried not to worry, but of course a million things were going through her head, and she was worried.  Doctors just don’t realize how something like that can send your mind whirling.  

We had been up very early that day and were tired, so we had headed off to bed about 9pm, when the phone rang. It was Mom telling me she was having very strong heart palpitations and she thought she might be having a heart attack. 

She called an ambulance, we raced out the door and met her at the hospital.   The hospital was pretty busy, but thankfully they found a room for her.

A nice woman doctor came in shortly and asked a lot of questions. She took everything seriously, but mentioned that palpitations are usually caused by something.  She didn’t think Mom was having a heart attack, but was concerned about the rapid heart rate.  I told her about the voice mail from her doctor and the thyroid issue.

They kept her hooked up to a monitor, and  ran a few tests. They didn’t find anything wrong, so the doctor told her she could go home, but if she felt more comfortable, they could also keep her overnight.  Mom decided to go home, but as soon as she made that decision, she started having palpitations again and decided against leaving.  Apparently, she was still a bit nervous about it and thinking of leaving the hospital brought them on again.

So, the  plan was for her to stay overnight and we would go on home and get a little sleep.  It was about 3:00 am by this point.   We got on the interstate, got almost to our exit, when my cell phone rang.  It was Mom’s nurse telling us they were releasing her after all. They had contacted her  doctor and he didn’t want them to admit her overnight because he knew what the problem was and he could fix it. He said her thyroid levels were too high, and wanted to to see her first thing the next morning.   We turned around and drove on  back to the hospital.

By the time we picked her up, dropped her off at home and got back to our home, it was 5 am.  We slept for a few hours and then had to take her into see her doctor.   It turned out her thyroid levels went from being extremely low the last time, to very high this time.   Not a good thing, but at least we know the cause and can make adjustments.   Dr. Cichon is such a nice man and caring doctor, but I don’t think he realized how his phone message caused such stress for Mom.  I think he was pretty worried about her because he gave her a hug before she left the office.

So…….Mom has instructions to quit taking the thyroid pills for a week and then to change to a different dosage.   She had no more palpitations yesterday and the current plan, is if she is still okay today, then we will leave Saturday morning. 

I’m not holding my breath!

15 comments:

  1. Oh so sorry about your mom. I can see why she would be nervous about a phone call from the doctor. Maybe the doctor's office has learned a lesson from this. Possibly he can explain why he wants the patient to see him the next morning. This might make the patient more relaxed about the visit.

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  2. It is good that you were still in the area and close by. Lets hope all goes well wil the new meds.

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  3. Not sure if my last comment went through since my internet went down before I finished. I swear my internet is more difficult in mid Florida than blogs I read from people in the middle of the desert in Arizona. ANYWAY, I was adding that I'm glad your mother's problem is relatively easy to fix. Rough night for you all but it seems everything turned out ok.

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  4. Gosh, what a roller coaster ride you are on...Hope things smooth out with your mom very quickly. Bless your heart for staying around so you can help when needed...

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  5. Glad to hear it's a pretty easy fix for Mom but you guys should be out cold after a night like that. Fingers crossed for take off on Saturday for you.

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  6. Oh my. There's always something! I hope it all turns out right for your mom :)

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  7. A call from a Doctor wanting to talk about an unknown issue is always concerning. Glad to hear it was a medication issue that can be worked out.

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  8. Sorry your trip was delayed but I am sure you are thankful you were there to support your mom through this ordeal. Hopefully, you will be on your way to the Keys soon!

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  9. Glad to hear it was not anything more serious. Maybe in a few days you can get on with your travel plans.

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  10. Since I "suffer" from white-coat syndrome myself I can empathize totally with your mother. The good thing about thyroid problems is that they can be fixed. Sorry your plans were delayed, but glad you were there to help your mother.

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  11. Glad you were still here. We are now at Lazydays using our free camping nights. We will move up to Quail run next week.

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  12. Well I'm so glad it wasn't anything terribly serious with your Mom. Sometimes we don't know why we can't carry out our plans but there is a reason. But I hope you can get there soon.

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  13. Wow, what a ride... I am so sorry to be reading about the trouble for your Mom and in turn for the two of you. Hubs and I have been where you are times 4 with our parents. The last as we began our travels was his Mom and we experienced interrupted journeys too. It seems a jolt to the system sometimes, but it is better than wishing you could tell them about the travels and not being able to. The Keys will still be there when you get there! I hope the medication change is an easy one. I've heard that change can sometimes be tricky.

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  14. :( so sorry for you and your dear mom...hopefully they will get her thyroid regulated in a fast manner...its not easy to do for sure..I have graves disease (way over active)...it causes heart palpitations when too high...while trying to control it it was too high, then too low then too high again...it didn't take them long to get it regulated and all was well..wishing the same thing for your mom..

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  15. Sorry to hear about your mom. Cryptic messages from a doctor would induce anxiety in me. I guess they don't want to leave to much info in a VM message due to privacy concerns, but something to ease unnecessary stress would be good since we're all prone to thinking the worst when we get those messages from the doc's office.

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