Scary

Yesterday I came home from work to find out my MIL was rushed to the hospital.

She had been ill for a while. They had her on antibiotics for an infection, bladder I believe, but she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. It was not pleasant. Then they started her on a different antibiotic. And that made her sick to her stomach.

She didn't feel good when she watched ds this week. She had some diarrhea and just feel lousy. But she said she felt up to watching him at the time. She was going to call her doctor later that day. But she didn't do it.

When I picked up ds, my mil was still sitting in the same chair as when I left, with a blanket, and looked like she hadn't moved. She didn't look better, like she told me she did on the phone. I told her I'd take her to a doctor. I offered to take her to the emergency care clinic. I also offered to get her some acidophilus or yogurt. She told me she had a bunch of yogurt in the fridge, but she stopped eating it because she thought maybe that's what had given her the runs. I thought that was unlikely and told her so. I encouraged her to eat that yogurt, and lots of it.

The next day, dh asked her if she called her doctor. Nope. She had an appointment on Thursday. She'd just wait until then. I told dh, "you know what'll happen, don't you? She'll go for that appointment, and the doc will tell her she's dehydrated and throw her in the hospital. You can't be that sick for that long and not get dehydrated!" He thought I was probably right.

Well, she never got to that appointment. She was so sick Wednesday night. My fil finally tried to get her to get in the car so he could take her to the emergency room, but she was too weak to walk to the car. (It was only about 15 feet or so to the car.) That's when they called the ambulance.

We all jumped in the car and went to the hospital to meet them. My fil didn't seem to know much about what was going on, except that she was on an IV. He thought maybe she'd go home Friday. I was more than skeptical. I thought that sounded crazy. We started to figure out that my fil had no clue what was happening because he couldn't hear what was going on. He's nearly deaf. He couldn't even carry on a phone conversation with dh, because he can't hear the darn thing.

This wasn't working at all. Nobody knew anything. We couldn't even find out what was wrong, other than the fact that the antibiotics weren't agreeing with her. Dh and I started looking for charts or anything with info on it. There was mention of her being on antibiotics and pain meds, and the fact that she was on a heart heathly diet. That was about it. I noted that she was in a private room, and thought it odd, but then again, maybe they'd be moving someone else in before the night was through.

Then a nurse came in the room. My mil couldn't even prop herself up to eat, she had to be lifted up the bed and propped in place. (Geez, if she's this weak that she not only can't walk, but she can hardly feed herself, they better not be sending her home the next day like fil thinks.) The nurse said something about doing an ultrasound on her tomorrow, and my mil asked, "Won't I be going home tomorrow?" The nurse looked at her with a shocked expression. Tomorrow?? Oh no.

Then she turned to us and said, "When you come back tomorrow, look for an orange tag on the door. If you see that, then you'll have to suit up in gowns before coming in." Huh?? Gowns? "Well of course it will depend on how the tests come back, but it's pretty likely that you'll have to gown up."

I quickly asked, "What are the tests for?" Wasn't she just having some bad reaction to the meds?

That's when she told us that they were testing her for c. diff. Oh no. I've heard of that, and it can be pretty nasty. Fatal even, if you get it bad enough, I thought. She also said she was being tested for MRSA. Holy smokes. I knew that was a staph infection, and can also be fatal. Especially dangerous for the elderly, right? I looked at dh, but I could tell by the confused look that he had no idea what either one was. I knew this was very serious. And contagious. And my son was in the room!!

The nurse gave us all instructions on washing up before leaving, and showed us where the Purell was. (Antibacterial stuff.) I have one thought on my mind at that point, and that was that my son had a bout of diarrhea last night. At the time, I had attributed it to the fact that we had Chinese take out for dinner, and maybe it was a little exotic for his tummy. But now...??

We got home and I pulled out the acidophilus and had us all take some. I also put Purell in the bathroom and by the kitchen counter, near where we come in the house. We were all sufficently disinfected. I hope.

None of us had any direct contact with my mil, except my fil. So I was feeling a little more at ease. After all, ds hadn't had any diarrhea since the night before, and it was probably just something he ate. Dh had an little upset stomach after eating too. What were the chances huh?

But in the back of my mind, I couldn't shade the worry that ds had spent all day Tuesday at Grandma's. But I was being paranoid, right?

In the middle of the night, ds woke us up by running into the bathroom. Again and again. Omg. Tell me he hasn't caught this!

I was on the phone to the doctor first thing this morning. I explained the situation, and the symptoms. The nurse was very understanding. I said that I didn't mean to come off as paranoid, but with the stuff with my mil, I just would rather err on the side of caution, you know?

The doctor was pretty cool about the whole thing. He's taking a let's take this slow approach. Since ds is not feverish, and he's doing pretty well otherwise, we're just going to watch this for a few days. I have a number to call at any time, if he takes a turn for the worse. He'll run tests on him Monday, if he isn't better. (Sooner if he worsens.)

I felt a little better after hearing that. They gave me practical advice for treating him in the meantime (bananas, yogurt, etc). And I felt like I wasn't being so crazy after all. They were all concerned too, but optimistic about how ds is feeling currently.

My mil hasn't been doing so well, however. The meds have her a little out of it. She was slurring to me, and pronouncing words funny ("annabios" instead of antibiotics). Very weak, very tired. Oh, and the meds make her very nauseous. That wasn't pleasant either. Poor dear.

The nurses said that it will take a few days for the meds to really kick in. Okay, so that gives us a timeline. We'll be looking for some sign of improvement by Monday morning, at the latest. I hope it will be sooner. I don't want her released. I want her in there and being taken care of. But I do want to see some real improvement, and SOON.