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I don't know what day it is ..... I am in a BRAIN CLOUD! I know I picked up the Arkansas Gang on Thursday at the Grapes-O-Wrath Airlines in LAX ... God directed me to the Airport with visions of "light" telling me to count the minutes and in SEVEN I would be there! (AND I WAS THERE in SEVEN MINUTES!)

The son-in-law drove us back to PS ...all the while playing with his "droid", texting, talking and GPS'ing! I was very near having a stroke from the waves of fear and just clutching to my beloved Romeo for dear life! The D-child was OUT ... dead silent and I feared her BG was very lo ... but didn't want to voice any opinion or offend the family in anyway.

The following day, my mom called and said she needed me to take her to ER. (My mother NEVER asks me to take her ANYWHERE so I KNEW THIS WAS BAD) She didn't want to call 911 because she knows I know how to treat her diabetes and most ER folks really don't have a clue with Adult T-1's. I drove the 35 miles to her home ... deciding midway that I was going to bring her to Palm Springs Hospital* until the issue could be resolved. (I knew she was having a hyponatremic event which can only be resolved by hospitalization.)

* Mother didn't want to come to PS Hospital ....

Reader's Digest Version: I had my mom at THREE different hospitals within a 30 hour period (in addition to the Urgent Care I took her to to get a PRE-Admission to the hospital and the first liter of Potassium Chloride). The first Hospital (now remember, she already had been admitted via the UC doctor!) told me to take her to their ER 1st ...then they would admit her. That ER room filthy dirty, all kinds of hazardous waste on the floors, counters and BEDS!!! I gave the ER Doc the records and Admission slip ... she ALREADY HAD an IV in and ready to go ... they then gave her another liter of Potassium Chloride ... and proceeded to start re-doing all of the tests she had JUST HAD at the UC (their affiliate!) I had to go to the Ladies room and when I returned to my Mom ...she was just finishing a HUGE hamburger that a nurse had given her and told her she MUST finish! OMG .... within 10 minutes her BG was 497 and I was freaking out! They refused to allow me to give her a correcting dose of insulin and my mom starting fading in and out of consciousness .... we were in that ER for about 2 hours, I think ...the whole thing is a blurr to me now ... all I remember is after the third time my mom slipped under ... I asked them to remove the IV so I could take her to Loma Linda Hospital (and also give her insulin to bring down the BG). That's when the FIGHT STARTED ... I know my rights and had her ready to go in about 15 minutes ... as I was signing all the medical release info, SOME CONFUSED NURSE HANDED MY TWO PILLS and before I could stop her ...down the hatch they went! The nurse had given her the MEDS for the WOMAN in the bed NEXT to my MOM! It was some kind of anti-biotic and they assured me that it would cause no harm ... and wrote the name of it on the records I was taking!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?????????

Now ...I get mother in the car, it is pouring rain and I covered her with my London Fog Rain Coat and I, of course am soaked! (That's ok ... I can take being cold .. mother can't!) I call ahead to Loma Linda and get Mom Pre-admitted ...once again! Groovy! No more problems!

WRONG WRONG WRONG ... we get to Loma Linda ER WITH the Pre-Admin Info and just as they start to take Mother ....the admission room is flooded with cops, CHP officers and at least three hand-cuffed men walking and three or four more men bloodied and hand-cuffed to gurneys ...GUNS DRAWN and SHOTGUNS at READY! We were the only people in that admission area and a CHP Officer took us to a holding room and said they'd be back for Mother once they cleared the admission area of the gun-shot-victims!!

I kept checking Mom's BG ...I knew she was still in fading in and out and I really didn't know what to do, other than pray for her safety! ..... I guess I don't need to tell you that they FORGOT ABOUT US! At 4:30 AM ...in tears ... I went to the admissions desk and asked how much longer before my Mom was admitted ... horrified, the ER Nurse got my Mom into a "room" (if you can call a broom closet a room) and said the Doctor would need to see her before they sent her upstairs (to start treatment). At 5:45 am, this PISSED OFF, TIRED daughter (me) lifted my mom into a wheel chair and proceed to get the HECK out of there! Of course, NOW they tell me I'm risking her life if I remove her from THEIR care (WHAT CARE? they had done nothing and she was NOW having chest pains!)

I don't know how I did it ...but I got her back to Palm Springs (where I should have come in the FIRST PLACE) and they proceeded to stabilize her electrolytes and potassium levels. At 3pm they assured me she was stable, didn't need to be admitted , and to take her home and keep an eye on her BG for the next 24 hours .... HOORAY ...I can finally sleep!

At our Condo ...I make Mother comfortable .... and fix my darling hubby something to eat, walk my dogs and just do GENERAL stuff to get ready for the evening. At EXACTLY 5:15 pm I notice my mom is unconscious once again, I check her temp and it's 102.7 ...OMG OMG OMG! I get as much covering off her as I dare ...and her temp drops to 101.5 but she is shaking uncontrollably ... back to PS ER!!!!! At this point I'm running on adrenalin ONLY ... but the Doc at PS ER had me bring her directly to HIM, and bless his heart, he realized that the PILLS given by the 1st ER needed to be flushed from her system as well as keeping keeping her electrolytes in balance while her blood was flushed. The rest of the night is blurry ...all I know is that they put mother in the VIP ER Room ... a place they reserve for celebrities and presidents, where every piece of equipment you could ever need is IN THE ROOM .... he did EVERYTHING except a spinal tap to make sure that nothing was missed this time ...and that we were truly dealing with hyponatremia! After about 6 liters of something (along with the tests) my mom was her old self again by 9 am the next morning!

to be continued when my blood pressure goes down! ♥