I Had a Scare Concerning my Mom.

No fancy photos or artwork with this entry.  I just have to express my recent fears and anxieties concerning my Mom.

My mother is 91 years old as of last June.  It was quite a milestone to be sure, but her health is deteriorating.  That should come as no surprise considering her age.

She has neuropathy in her feet, which requires her to use a walker wherever she goes.  Her posture is severely bent.  Her voice is audible, but it has a "sweet little old lady" quaver to it that just breaks my heart every time I hear it.

In addition to the neuropathy, she had fractured her hip a few years back, which was another factor in requiring a walker.

My wife and I were coming back from a visit to the American Museum of Natural History.  By the time we had arrived at the train station, we received a call from MedicAlert.  They informed us she had called them saying she felt weak and barely able to move.  Being a very emotional person, I was freaking out as to whether or not the concierge, the porter, a neighbor, if ANYONE had a spare key to her apartment.  When she fractured her hip at home, they had to pry open the dead bolted door because she had given no one a copy of her house keys.  MedicAlert assured me that they had sent an EMS to bring her to the nearest hospital.

On the train ride home, my mind went into full frenzy.  I feared my phone would ring and a grim, dour voice would announce my mother's death.  The next call I received was from one of Mom's neighbor who is a nurse.  She said she had checked my mother's pulse and that it was irregular.  I asked if MedicAlert had sent an EMS.  She said that forty minutes had gone by and they had not arrived.  The nurse said she had called 911.

Then, Mom got on the phone.  She stubbornly said she would not get into an ambulance.  I took on the role of a stern father laying down the law to his obstinate child.  "When the ambulance arrives, you are GETTING ON BOARD, and I will not hear otherwise."  The back and forth continued for a while until she relented.

My phone rang again, and this time my wife picked it up.  I could hear through the high volume a shrieking voice that my wife tried to calm.  I stood up in wrath and said, "WHO THE FUCK IS THAT, AND WHY IS SHE SHOUTING AT YOU?"  I lunged for the phone but my wife shooed me back.  She had a few curt words with the caller, and then hung up.  My wife explained to me that the caller was a neighbor who was screaming that we were "being irresponsible."  The caller boasted that whenever her parents were sick, "I would drive them to the hospital!  I did it thirty-six times!"  I let loose a stream of expletives that would have made the demon that possessed Linda Blair in The Exorcist say, "Whoa!  Ease down dude!  Take three deep breaths!"

Eventually, my Mom and her friend the nurse reached out to me and said the EMS arrived, totaling six men and women.  I reasoned in my mind that both MedicAlert and 911 arrived at the same time.  One of the EMS asked me if Mom had a "Do Not Resuscitate" order for herself.  "Hell, no!" I replied in shock.  The EMS thanked and said the hospital would update me on my Mom's condition.

The thing is, my wife and I were discussing moving Mom out of the city and into an apartment, an assisted living facility, or a senior village that was nearer to us even before this fiasco.  Then I asked myself, how much longer will Mom last?  The smart thing would be to move her to such a facility, but would she die not long after.  Let me reiterate, my mother is NINETY-ONE.

I am fresh out of words.  I need some menial task like doing the wash to calm me down.  More later.

- JJB