End of Semester.. oh and then theres my mother

Alas! My last day of school was yesterday. Wooo!

On the whole, this semester was the most difficult I have had thus far. The summer course load was more difficult than this one but with other things going on in life... the fall has been more difficult overall.

Our Camry exploded two weeks before the end of school so that just added additional stress to the regular school load. I was a mere 200 miles shy of 200,000 miles on the odometer when WHAAAAAMO! It threw a rod and the resulting explosion left a 10 inch diameter hole in the engine block. And I JUST had the damn thing worked on over the summer. So much for Toyota reliability.

Its amazing how resourceful and creative you have to become getting two kids to daycare and getting yourself to class 30 miles away when you don't have a vehicle! I was fortunate to have a fellow classmate that lives less than 5 minutes away and a few others nearby to help me tote the kids back and forth to daycare.

I traveled to Lawrenceburg today (hometown of Senator/Actor Fred Thompson & Deceased actor Michael Jeeter) to take possession of my brother's spare vehicle. Its a 1976 Ford F150 with about 300,000+ miles on it. Ha! I had the chance to drive it a few years ago and let me tell you... a 3 speed on the steering column manual is not the easiest vehicle to drive! But hey... I am very lucky to have a great brother to loan me a vehicle in my time of need. I'll try and post a picture.

This past week I took four final exams, two comps (must pass), gave a presentation, and submitted my research paper. All without a vehicle. Oh yeah... I mentioned that. I took a dive on the Med Surg II final and for the first time in nursing school made a 'C'... I'm still working with my therapist to accept the reality of a C. I'll keep you posted about my progress (being a smart alec here).

Flight of the Hypochondriac
Postponed a trip out of town yesterday to take my mother to the emergency department. For those of you not in the know, my mother is a grade A world class hypochondriac with a subspecialty in drama (and she's a retired diploma RN to boot).

She called me in the afternoon while I had both boys at home to tell me that her systolic bp was 190. Well that certainly raised an alarm with me.

"That is stroke territory, Mom."

"I know. I'm waiting to hear back from the doctor."

"So you placed a call?"

"Yes."

"Well call them again and tell them you need to speak with him immediately. Call me back and let me know what he tells you."

She didn't call me back until an hour later.

"My systolic is over 220! They told me to get to the ER as soon as possible!!!"

"Let me wake the kids from their naps, load them in the car, and I'll be right over to take you to the ER."

It was while I was gathering everything (including children) into the car when it hit me. She had told me that she had quit taking losartan and started taking a new ARB (can't remember the name) the same day. Plus she just bought a new electronic bp machine.

With my student nurse senses tingling the last two things I grabbed before racing over to her house was my stethoscope and my manual cuff. I had every intention of double checking her bp against her electronic bp machine.

When I got there she had what seemed like her entire retirement community standing in her driveway... with her at the center. I was amazed that she was waiting for me in her driveway.

"I want to take your bp manually to make sure that new machine you bought isn't malfunctioning."

"We don't have time! I'm going to stroke out!!!"

And with that I was met with about 5 sets of ugly glares from her neighbors. So I quickly made arrangements for her neighbor to babysit my kids and I went back inside to grab her bp machine because I knew it had stored her readings and thought it could possibly help the ER doc/nurse in treating her.

As I walked back to the car I was met by another angry neighbor with, "You just need to get her to the ER, NOW!"... this from the same neighbor that told me she couldn't help babysit my kids because she had a dinner date.

And off we went.

Along the way Mom made several proclamations that included such statements as:

"I hope I don't have a stroke before we get there."

AND

"If I don't make it, please make sure my dogs are taken care of."

So I'm taking her pulse and checking her respirations as I am driving the 5 miles to the hospital. Pulse was 80 and a little bounding but that is normal for her since she has heart disease. Her respirations were 18. Her extremities were warm and she wasn't diaphoretic.

As I drive by the emergency department entrance I notice that the paramedics are rearranging the ambulances and have completely blocked the entrance so I drove a little ways past them to park.

"What are you doing?!" She asked as she spun her head around in amazement.

"I'm parking. The emergency room is within 50 feet."

"I'm too weak to walk that far."

"I'll help you and if I have to get a wheelchair I will get one."

No sooner had those words left my mouth, the car had barely come to a stop (I still had the keys in the ignition for cries-sakes!) when she bails out and starts RUNNING halfway across the street... by herself!

So I catch up with the in-VAH-lid to help her the remaining 20 feet to the emergency room entrance when she spots a wheelchair and immediately plopped her keester into it. I wheeled her the remaining 10 feet to the admission clerk's desk.

The admission clerk was not having any of it. My mother was giving the performance of her life that included out of breath responses and new claims of nausea and headache. They wheel her back and hook her up to the Dyna-Map machine... 149 over 89.

"That really came down," she stated.

"Yeah, with all the running, screaming, and crying who would have guessed your blood pressure would go DOWN!" I added.

They gave her a number and we were hauled off to the waiting room.

During our tenure in the waiting room she entertained me with laughing and telling funny stories.

All I kept thinking was, "You have lost your freakin' mind lady!"

And that is when I remembered her electronic bp machine. I went and retrieved it from the car and plugged it in. I noticed it had an easy slip on cuff designed for older people. I slipped it on as recommended and it gave me a normal reading... 132 over 86. I decided to turn it around and take it again... 187 over 110.

Me thinks I've solved the mystery!

Mom and I had a long talk. It was a long talk about relying on electronic bp machines without double checking with a manual reading.

I'll spare you the remaining 4 additional hours of emergency room time but I will share this with you. I checked her bp on the dynamap in the examination room two times... 148 over 88 and 140 over 86. The last reading before we headed for home was 130 over 80 (BETTER THAN MINE!).

And my wife and I are out $70 for our hotel reservation that we couldn't use.

But I love my crazy mother... and you can too for just the cost of a Greyhound ticket I can ship her off to you for the holidays!

Just kidding... sort of.