Fright
This household saw a lot of action this week.
Mom is in the recovery stage of lung cancer. One of the things her doctor wants is follow-up chemo, to get rid of any straggling micro-tumors that may have migrated in her body. Well, this week brought an abrupt end to the current course of treatment, as her chemo caused an allergic reaction which sent her into anaphalactic shock and spiked her pulse and blood pressure. Fortunately for her, she doesn’t remember any of the worst of it, as the hospital staff gave her an emergency dose of Benadryl and sedatives. Her doctor barely took his eyes off her and the monitor while he gave orders. One of the nurses kept a running log of everything on a paper towel, until it could be entered into the proper patient records after Mom was out of danger. They ended up admitting her for overnight observation, and she came home the next day.
Mom doesn’t remember much of it, after she went into shock, and what she does remember is very jumbled. She doesn’t even remember who was visiting in her room at the same time. I filled in a lot of gaps later, so she could better understand the sequence of events.
It’s interesting to look back and really think about the numbness in my own mind. We came very close to losing her. The fright is something I know I will have to experience at least once more in my life; I hope it is no more than that. Watching my own mother struggling for each breath really confirmed for me that I did the right thing by moving back.
