Back in the hospital again

This morning I was sure this would be a "boring" day filled with food shopping and random stuff. Not so!

It quickly became something else. Mom woke with problems. We tried to head off another hospitalization with a visit from her home care doctor and nurse, and we filled some prescriptions! We were celebratory at the thought that we had dodged the "hospital bullet".

But the fates had something else in store for us this day. She went downhill fast. By 4:30 it was evident that she needed to go to the ER. EMTs were called, she was loaded into an ambulance and by 5:00 we were checking in at our local hospital ER.

Now it is 11:00 pm. We are still in the ER. We know she will spend a night or two in the hospital getting IV antibiotics. What we don't know is when we will get an actual hospital room. The ER beds (they call them cots) are acutely uncomfortable. The space bright as day and noisy. There is no effort to adjust the surroundings for the late hour. And they aren't equipped to feed patients who are stuck in this limbo. I sit on one hard plastic chair with my feet propped up on another plastic chair. Both our butts are sore.

You know you have been here too often when you know where all the ice machines are, where they keep the snacks, where to find your own pillows and linens, some of the staff know your face, you can answer their questions before they ask them.

It is sad to be so practiced at this. But she needs to be here so we cope!

As an aside: the Doritos I had for dinner were yummy!

A second aside: I'd rather be food shopping! Mom would rather be sticking pins in her eyes. :-)