A little over a week...

So to finish the blog about my mother.. She's ok now, she's at home and will live life as best she can after the bad news from the doctors...

Bad news? Hmmm have your ears perked up? Well yes it was terrible news but it doesn't bother us in the least... This is quite simply because after all that she's been through with not being able to breath, the bad news she received is only a minor set back. And I'm quite sure we have more of that stuff in store in the future...

Having received new lungs and a new chance for her to breath easier and enjoy the rest of her life comes at a cost. My mother's pre existing medical conditions were not limited simply to alpha-1 antitrypson deficiency. She also had a pre existing heart condition, diabetes, some cholesterol related issues etc... there are more but they seemed well controlled to me the untrained son who thought all those were minor... Until now... After transplant she can breath but it seems that the barage of pills she takes combined with all the pre existing conditions has taken it's toll on her body...

Ultimately in Emergency we found out that she was indeed experiencing "Drug Induced Stroke" most likely from the cyclosporin (anti-rejection drug) and so now they have switched her over to a new drug which seems to be working well. Still no rejection... And though she has a little acid reflux (known to cause rejection) the tests are showing no signs still and for that we are thankful.

They did a lot of tests while she was in emergency and then after while she was in the ward. CT scans of head and chest, Ultrasounds etc... And ultimately this lead to the one on one news from the head doctor there that there is severe, irreversable damage to the blood vessels in her brain. Huh? How can this be? I mean she talks intelligently and for the most part seems perfectly normal to me... But yet they tell me she could just drop dead at any time? I am left baffled but at the same time my mother and I both agree that it just isn't important... We know that doctors have told us before that some ailment will be the ultimate demise. Doctors see the results on the screen but sometimes forget to factor in human will and sheer determination.

A couple weeks later she has been back to the hospital for some testing and is looking at a possible kidney function issue... Other than that, wow... just listen to that... 'Other than that' Things are fine... She's at home, says she feels great and is living... If things change I will let you know but for now that is what we have and we sure intend to accept it... What else could we do with it?

On a more personal note... My life has for the most part become about work... Work is going well, my hand is all healed up from the injury I obtained from a machine at work... And my schedule is for the most part working out with the exeption of being on the road driving to and from TO for 6 hours ultimately leading to me taking the night off cause I was really stressed out. TO is preparing for gay pride celebrations next week and something had the traffic all up in a tiffy... Took literally two hours to get to TO yesterday and then two hours to return home... By that time I was so exausted and stressed out that I did not go to work...

With the new employment I have been introduced to some new friends of course. It is natural to befriend people that you work with... For the first time since I have moved to Ontario I have a circle of friends that is my own. Previously being part of a family business I did not have this luxury and of course spent a lot of time trying to walk lightly around people so being away from that has really been nice... Unfortunately I have not communicated much with them and seemingly they are starting to show that they are not interested in communicating. So I and my family are proceeding on our path of success and they are doing the same... As it would seem... We both have goals, just not the same ones...

Naturally...

Longer and Longer...

I guess with my new busy schedule my posts become spread out ofer time a little more and more... I plan to resume my regular blogging habit soon. In fact I have a nice little laptop that is slightly larger than an EeePC that I will be sporting around with me more and more and I am looking for a portable internet solution... Then, no matter where the blogging bug hits me I'll be able to blog properly from a mobile location. Sure there are iphones and such but nothing quite replaces the feel of a proper querty keyboard when blogging. Not to mention it will become my mobile phone solution through means of voip.

'Nuff bout that... Now an update on my mother...

On Friday after my work shift I caught up on a bit of sleep. I had gotten some sleep, then went to the family doctor who took a look at my workplace injury... "You need to go to emergency and get stitches" My doctor is as blunt as a marble when he tells you how it is... Straight to the point, always and with a smile and a pat on the back... So, after having that done I layed down to rest before work that night... I awoke to the sound of the telephone at 3:38pm, then shortly after I heard my mother come up the stairs in a hurry to bring me the phone. By this time I had already made my way to the washroom so I was unavailable. "It's the school, they want to talk to the mother or father" Hmmmm, ok I thought... "Tell them I'll call them back, I'm in the washroom right now..." There was no response but then I heard her mumble half intelligently to the person on the phone "He's not available, can he call you back..." After that there was pure silence... After finishing up, I walked out into the hallway where I found my mother laying down on the floor with the phone in her right hand... "Mom! What are you doing on the floor?" She answered me without hesitation and with no trouble... " I'm just resting... I got up too quickly and then became weak..." Wow... I was shocked... She got up shortly after that and walked down the stairs...

My wife had been on her way home already so I figured I would just wait until she arrived to make a final decision... When she did arrive and told me that mom had been very sleepy the last day or two I went to ask my mom about it. Well, I found her already laying in bed and in fact already asleep... I woke her and said very bluntly... "Mom, lets go, we are going to TO general to have you checked out...". She certainly didin't seem surprised, and in fact opened her eyes and simply replied "Ok, I figured you were going to say that..."

SO off we went to the emergency...

Friday turned into Saturday then Sunday morning 3am and she was still in the hallway waiting to go upstairs... I will blog about what happened next time but I have to run now so I can't finish the story just yet...

:) Ohhhh the suspense!