Birthdays and Liquid Motrin

First things first! I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY!!!!! My "little" sis turns 25 years old today! So starts our month of being the same age :) I know Tiff never reads my blog, but I still want to wish her a very happy and healthy birthday! Love ya!

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My mood is considerably better today, which is surprising seeing as how yesterday turned out. If you want to know what my mood is like, well, I'm currently listening to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" on repeat. :)

Things have gotten a little bit better around here. My mom finally listened to me and my sister about her symptoms of anxiety and actually talked to the doctor about it! She is always a person who completely deny having any form of anxiety or depression, so the fact that she actually asked the doctor if there was anything she could take to help curb her anxiety was a huge step. Thankfully, he gave her a prescription for Xanax, which is not only making her life easier, but making our entire family's life a bit easier!

Of course things couldn't go completely that smoothly! There had to be one more big storm on the horizon, and sure enough, it hit yesterday. I had come home from work to find my mom complaining a bit of a shoulder ache. The day before yesterday, my mom was feeling "so much better." She did all kinds of chores around the house, regardless of me saying that I thought she was overdoing it. So skip to yesterday, and she was doing even more activities that she should have left to me or my dad. Such as pulling her wet, heavy bedspread out of the washer and then trying to shake the thing out before finally giving up and asking my dad to do it for her. Then at some point in the early evening, she was using a drill and putting anchors in to the wall to hang Christmas decorations! I honestly don't know what the heck she was thinking, but she paid the price for it! Right before dinner, she complained that her shoulder was really starting to ache quite badly. She took some Tylenol and decided to take a nap before dinner. After her nap, she woke up whimpering, saying that her shoulder was throbbing in pain. She tried to eat dinner but she complained that pain was too much, and it was making her nauseous. Finally she called our family doctor who instructed her to go to an urgent care clinic to get an injection for pain.

My dad took her to the urgent care clinic, while I stayed at home. My gramma and my great aunt called wondering how my mom was doing. I honestly thought that she'd get the pain shot and then be doing better by the time she got home. When she and my father did get home, my mom was crying in pain. She said that the doctor didn't really seem to believe her pain, and simply twisted her arm around, causing her even more pain. She said that when she explained to him that she couldn't have ibuprofen due to her liver disease, he told her he couldn't give her anything for pain because everything had ibuprofen in it. He wrote her a script for Vicodin and then sent her on her way. At this time it was around 11pm, and my dad had to drive across town to a 24 hour Walgreens to get the prescription filled while I stayed at home with my mom. She did nothing but whimper and cry the whole time my dad was gone, and I had no idea what to do for her, besides ice her arm. (Prior to her going to the urgent care, I had suggested she ice her arm, but she decided to instead put a heating pad on it, which I think may have caused her more pain.) When my dad got home, she took two of the Vicodin and tried to relax. They seemed like they might actually do the trick, because about half an hour later she was no longer whimpering and crying. In fact, she was on the phone with her cousin, sounding like she was doing a lot better.

Now we're at about 1am. I had already been up a little later than I had planned on, but I was planning on getting in to bed. I was on my way to the bathroom when I heard my mom whimpering again. I went to her room to ask her if she was okay, and she started crying, telling me that the pain was back. She went on and on telling me that she couldn't have any more Vicodin until 7am, and that she was in so much pain she couldn't stand it. She started cursing about the doctor she saw at the urgent care. I sat with her, but like I said before, besides for giving her some ice, there wasn't much I could do! Finally, she somehow managed to get our family doctor on the phone. While she did that, I took the time to scoot in to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Literally, as soon as I had turned the water off, my mom calls for me. When I get to her room she tells me that our doctor was shocked that my mom didn't receive a pain injection, and thinks she needs to go to the ER. So, guess who got the honor of driving my mom to the ER at 2am? Yup, that would be moi. Actually, by the time we got her in to her coat, and she had a last cigarette, it was almost 2:30am by the time we actually left for the ER.

The ER was another story in itself. Luckily, seeing as it was the butt crack of dawn, there wasn't a wait. Good thing, because I was totally exhausted and in my pajamas, with messy hair, no makeup, and glasses. Exactly how one should look at almost 3am, but still, not something I wanted everyone in America to witness. The triage nurse (I think you call her a triage nurse?) had my mom come back, while filling out a chart for the doctor. I swear, between the know-it-all nurse and my mother being fixated on small details, I thought I was going to go nuts. The nurse asked my mom "Why did you have a cat scan?" My mother then answered with "It was for my brain and my sinuses." The nurse then says again "Why did you have a cat scan?" Again, my mother answers "It was for my brain and my sinuses." Okay, I was exhausted, but I was still aware of the missing link in this conversation, and I was pissy with both of them for not being able to communicate with each other. After they did another round of this question and answer, I couldn't help but blurt out "Mom, what she is trying to ask you is why did you need to get a cat scan of your brain and sinuses. And, ma'am, the reason my mom had a cat scan is because she has had a chronic sinus infection." Geez! I swear, neither one of them was willing to rephrase their responses and it was driving me bonkers. Then the nurse got fixated on the point that my mom said she couldn't have ibuprofen, on the orders of her gastroenterologist. The nurse kept saying "Well, that doesn't make any sense. Why can't you have that because of your liver? Ibuprofen doesn't even go through the liver, it goes through the kidneys. You shouldn't have Tylenol... this is backwards. Yeah, there is no reason why you can't have ibuprofen."

Not to be a know it all myself, but what was the deal with the nurse? I wasn't even sure if she was right about ibuprofen being processed through the kidneys. I thought I learned in biochem that both ibuprofen and acetaminophen are are processed through the liver? I can't be sure on that, but I know we did discuss that people with liver disease should not have ibuprofen. The reason I know that for sure is that we were discussing this not too long after my mother had been diagnosed with liver disease, and it really stuck out in my mind. Why couldn't she just take my mother's word on it that this is what her doctor said? Instead, she purposely left it off my mother's chart! Why do I know this? I know this because after the doctor looked at my mom and ordered for her to have an injection for pain, the male nurse who came in gave my mother a shot of what he called "liquid motrin." Of course he said this after she already had the shot, and my mother didn't realize that motrin is just another name for ibuprofen. I didn't even bother to say anything because what was done was done. The shot was helping my mother's pain, and I was too exhausted to get her all riled up about the ibuprofen. I did tell her this morning what the shot had in it, but she wasn't very upset over it due to her pain being gone.

Finally, my mom is slowly returning to normal. Her pain has subsided for the most part, but she is wearing a sling. I have had to help her do a few things like make her bed, and I've had to yell at her to stop doing other things (like carrying a box down the stairs.) Hopefully, if we can just hold out for a few more days, we may be able to have a semi-normal Christmas!

One can only hope!

And yes, surprisingly, I am actually in a good mood today, despite not getting to bed until almost 5am.