Actually, it has been raining here, and pretty cold, too. We've seen snow on Mt. Toro, which is at best an occasional sight. The title of this entry refers to life events, however.
A week ago Saturday my 94 year old mother was complaining of back pain. She had done her usual walk into town, but was unable to make it all the way back. She sat down to wait for the bus, but none came. Monterey-Salinas Transit has recently decided that Pacific Grove no longer needs bus service on Saturdays. Fortunately, a good Samaritan who was having a cup of coffee at an outdoor table for the Little Red House noticed her distress, and gave her a ride home.
When we went to have our usual afternoon snacks with her, she was clearly in a lot of pain. She took some pain killers, and that seemed to help. Two hours later we received a call from the Lifeline service that she had fallen out of bed and needed help. By this point she was in agony, and couldn't move at all without screaming. It was clearly time to bring in the professionals, and an ambulance came and took her up to the hospital, where she remained for four days.
They never did determine the source of her pain, and she was doing better, so she was to transition to the local convalescent hospital for a few days so they could come up with a plan to manage her pain. Unfortunately, there were no open beds, so at the last moment they took her to a different facility.
She had an absolute fit. She thought they had taken her to an insane asylum and that she was being locked up. She demanded that they call the police. Of course, they didn't. By the time we got there she was literally foaming at the mouth she was so upset. She accused them of locking her in bed - actually, they had simply raised the rails so she wouldn't fall out. She managed to lower one end and climb out the foot of the bed.
I got her up out of the wheelchair and walked her around the facility a bit. She was able to do this without trouble, so I decided the best course of action was to take her home. No way, no how was she going to let them keep her there.
Because of the departure against medical advice, there was no opportunity to come up with any sort of a pain management plan, so she has been having to suffer for the past few days. The visiting nurse association was supposed to send somebody, but this doesn't seem to have happened yet. Her place is going to need some modifications, and she definitely needs to have some pain medications.
Oy.
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