Home Alone

I am sitting at my  mother's house tonight, alone.  It seems too quiet here, without her relaxing across from me in her recliner, dozing, while I type.  In the eighteen years I have been visiting her at this Columbus, Georgia apartment, I have never spent a night in it without her present.  Even the past two days, when she hasn't been aware who I am, I could look across at her and remember times past.  Now I just feel so bereft.


Today, she slept until I woke her at 11AM.  She has stopped reading the morning paper or having coffee, two habits that have been part of her life as long as I have.  It took me an entire two hours to get her up and moving to make her appointment at Dr. Fussell's office, her board certified gerontologist.  She was so short of breath, even the slightest movement exhausted her and required that she stop and rest.  Getting her out the door and into my friend's truck left us both gasping and the situation repeated itself once we got to the doctor's office.  The nurse then attempted to do a geriatric assessment, asking numerous questions.  My mother did not know who she was, where she was, what state she was in, the year, and, of course, she still had no idea who had been harrassing her for the last couple of hours.  The nurse mercifully gave up on the rest of the questions.


Once the medical assessment got under way, we began to get some answers.  Her pulse was 173 and the two nurses were unable to get a blood pressure reading.  Her oxygen was extremely low and she was short of breath and very dehydrated.  After she was seen by Dr. Fussell, he said she had to be admitted to the hospital for atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure.  He felt she had probaby had a stroke, secondary to the atrial fibrillation.  According to the American Heart Association, "Atrial fibrillation is a disorder found in about 2.2 million Americans. During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) quiver instead of beating effectively. Blood isn't pumped completely out of them, so it may pool and clot. If a piece of a blood clot in the atria leaves the heart and becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke results. About 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation.  The likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation increases with age. Three to five percent of people over 65 have atrial fibrillation.  Several approaches are used to treat and prevent abnormal beating:  Medications are used to slow down rapid heart rate associated with AF. These treatments may include drugs such as digoxin, beta blockers (atenolol, metoprolol, propranolol), amiodarone, disopyramide, calcium antagonists (verapamil, diltiazam), sotalol, flecainide, procainamide, quinidine, propafenone, etc. Drugs are also used to help reduce stroke risk in people with AF. Anticoagulant and antiplatelet medications thin the blood and make it less prone to clotting. Warfarin is the anticoagulant now used for this purpose, and aspirin is the antiplatelet drug most often used. Long-term use of warfarin in patients with AF and other stroke risk factors can reduce stroke by 68 percent."

My mom is now at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia, the same place where I worked as a candy striper fifty years ago.  I also spent three months there as a young medical-surgical R. N. when my infant son and I stayed at my mom's while my husband was at the Air Force's Squadron Officer's School in Montgomery, Alabama eighty miles from Columbus.  Of course, nothing is the same as it was then, other than their stellar reputation which has only grown.  Today, it is also Columbus' first and only Primary Stroke Care Center, accredited by the Joint Commission ( which really means something to us nurse types who always sweated through those inspections at our hospitals! ).  As soon as my mother got into bed, she seemed to relax and barely moved when her excellent nurse started her I.V.  I feel certain that, right now, my mother could not be in better hands.  I hope she is having a good night's sleep and that her heart, with the help of pharmaceuticals, will return to a normal sinus rhythm, and do the job it is supposed to do.  Perhaps, then, at least, she will be more aware of her surroundings and will be able to recognize the people who love her.

Catfish and Hushpuppies and the Best Massage Ever!

Usually, when I'm visiting my mother in Columbus, GA, a meal at Ezell's Catfish Cabin is a must.  You can get "all you can eat" whole catfish, fried in cornmeal batter, with unlimited cole slaw and hushpuppies for under ten dollars.  I think their hushpuppies are the best I've ever eaten - full of onions, corn and jalapeno peppers.  For those of you who aren't sure what hushpuppies are, they are a Southern dish, made of cornmeal, flour, eggs, salt, baking soda, milk, and water, and can include whole kernel corn, onion, spring onion, and peppers.  The batter is crisply fried in hot oil.

Different stories have arisen as to how the name came about but they all have to do with bits of the fried batter being tossed to the dogs to quiet them, hence, "hush, puppies."

I was so disappointed at Ezell's this time because they were not serving the whole catfish due to the excessive heat the past few days.  They said the catfish were not up to quality because of that.  I was content, however to eat shrimp, a whole plate of hushpuppies and their great cole slaw.

These were once swimming in a lake, river or stream somewhere in the South!

Ezell's is your down home type of setting - no fancy linens or candelabra here!

Yummy high calorie, high fat hushpuppies!

 

Cheese grits ( or Georgia ice cream! ) and catfish fillet 

I was supposed to leave tomorrow to return home to San Francisco, after ten days with my mother here in Georgia.  Last night, though, she begged me to stay longer.  We still have so many things we did not accomplish, the most important of which is getting her to a doctor.  I finally decided to change my flight and to stay another week.  I figured the one hundred dollar change fee will be less expensive than trying to fly back next month, which I really cannot afford to do.  I need to get back and try to find work but I kept thinking about all my mother has done for me in my life and that made the decision easier.  So I will be here until November 11th.

Today, I decided to go and get a massage.  Jennifer Stanton Clifton, the daughter of my friends, 

Luther and Beth Stanton is a licensed massage therapist.  She was booked up at her normal place of business but she was nice enough to let me come to her home today.  I hadn't had a massage since before the news of my impending job loss in February.  I have both spinal and cervical stenosis and I've suffered from chronic back pain for over 20 years, since I had extensive back surgery after a fall in the operating room where I worked.  Hydraulic fluid had

leaked from one of our surgical tables and I slipped on it when I went running out of the room to get blood for the case.  

At any rate, Jennifer did some deep tissue work on me - definitely a bit grueling at times - to work out all the knots - but it was the best massage I've ever had.  I am a bit sore tonight but I can move better than I have in months.  I will definitely go back for another massage before I leave Columbus!  My problem is, how am I going to manage monthly sessions with her when I live 2500 miles away.  Jennifer was telling me that Bob Hope once said that the secret to his longevity was that he got a massage every day of his life.  If I had his wealth, I would definitely indulge myself!  I am also regretful that, in all the years I've been visiting, I never had Jennifer give me a massage before!  All that time wasted!  

Next time, pehaps, I'll see her at the Joseph House, in the historic district of Columbus, which houses an art gallery, showcasing the work of Southern artists and also offers massage therapy to clients.  I stopped there today to see the art work on display - lovely pieces in all types of medium, some very reasonably priced.

 

 The Joseph House