I hate those fu*kers. :mad:

I think that if anything went according to plan, I'd worry.

My mother is now safely ensconced in the CCU at Presbyterian, one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States for Interventional Cardiology.

However, because they are the best in the business, they get a lot of the business. They were so busy with emergency Catheterizations, that my mom, since she is stable, got bumped to the bottom of the list. They now think they will be doing her cath on Monday.

Guess I have to tell work that I was wrong, and that I won't be coming in.

Guess I have to tell work that I was wrong, and that I won't be coming in.

Sorry to hear about your mothers Illness ,
Stay strong ,
use your head to make dessions ,
When you have to make hard choices your heart will fuck with your head ( I know you know this ) .
if your work is worth a SHIT they will let you go when you HAVE to GO !!
My boss and a good customer BOTH told me to
" Get the hell out of here and take care of your Mom !!!!
These scales can wait !!!"
Stay strong !!!

I'd offer some helpful advice if I didn't think you weren't already five steps ahead of me in the advice dept so I'll just offer my support and hope that your mother makes a full and successful recovery.

My Mom had a cardiac scare whilst visiting here a few years ago - we had to take her directly to the hospital from the airplane where she stayed until she left. Her EKG looked like OJ Simpson's lie-detector test results. I know how scary that is - to have your mother's mortality on center stage with the finest cardiologists at Fairfax Hospital -not exactly a M*A*S*H unit itself- completely stumped as to the source of the problem.

That was several years ago and she made a complete recovery with the net result that I appreciate even more every day that she is still here. I wish the same outcome for you.

Sending good wishes your way for you and your mum, Wolf.

I managed to survive a trip into the city yesterday to visit. The difference between "city" and "suburban" hospital is eminently clear to me now. The nurse : patient ratio is much smaller, and the staff are very nice, and willing to provide a lot of detail about their expectations for mom's treatment and progress. They even paged the interventional cardiologist for me so I could speak with him. He was no longer in the hospital, but called in and I got to have a long conversation with him on the phone.

They totally rape you on the parking garage however. I was used to $5 for any time over 1 hr ... I paid $15 for about 2.5 hrs. Yikes!!

If I'm figuring out the public transit costs properly (round trip train ride, plus an assortment of subways and busses) I won't actually save much, if anything.

But on public transportation you don't have to steer, leaving a free hand to hold the spare magazine. No not Ladies Home Journal. :lol:

On for tomorrow?

I'm glad it worked out for you. My dad just moved out of Lankenau into rehab for a week or so. At Lankenau a doctor was talking to him in his room and finishing his examination. My mom and my wife walked into the room. The doctor went into a classic 'talk to the hand' pose and said 'Don't ask any questions.' He finished the examination, ignored my mother, and then left.

My mother may have been a little stunned by this and didn't do anything about it. My wife wanted to rip the guy a new asshole but also restrained herself.

As of today, yes, the cardiac cath with stent placement is to occur tomorrow, probably around 1300-1400 hrs.

A lot has gone on in a couple of days, and I was knocked offline by an 18 hour power failure.

The cardiac cath was done on Monday, but no stent placed (the architecture of the vessel was too tricky to allow that to be done safely). The cardiologist, who had cathed her before, said she was as stable as she was going to get and cleared her for surgery. She was moved back to the original hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

Things moved a little faster after that. We learned yesterday that her surgery was scheduled for today (one small step for momWolf, so to speak) at around noon.

Mom's surgery got moved up by an hour or so today. She called my sister and I at home to get us to the hospital in time to see her beforehand. We had visions of her grabbing onto the bedrails and refusing to be moved until she saw us. The hospital apparently has had experience with this. They just move your whole bed with you!

Everything went well, the surgeon was very encouraged by how she tolerated the surgery. She will be on the ICU for at least the next couple of days.

Good news, Wolf. Mom will be back being feisty before you know it...or are ready for it. :)

Glad to hear everything is going according to plan. Here's wishing your mum a speedy recovery.

Best wishes, WolfMom!

We're still with you, Wolfie.

Elspode, you must be psychic or something ...

According to the ICU nurse, Mom is officially feisty. Her first official conscious ... or to give her the benefit of the doubt, semi-conscious act was to attempt to extubate herself.

This earned her a set of soft restraints and some extra time is twilight sleepy land.

Hopefully they'll be able to extubate her tomorrow and let her loose.