RweTHEREyet
02-12-2006, 11:15 PM
It's along story, and you need some background, and I guess to a certain extent this story explains why I am like I am today. :crazy:
Last year (a few days after Christmas in 2004) I went and picked up my Mom, who had been in a rehab center in Destin, Fl. I was bringing her back to my house to recuperate even further and get back on her feet, since she lives by herself.
We got home on New Year's Eve, and two days later we were calling 911 and off to the hospital she goes. Two rehab stays and two hospital stays later, I was finally driving her back to Fl. in April of 2005.
Fast forward to September of 2005, my husband and I drive to Ft. Walton Beach to move mom into assisted living. It was a tough week. She wasn't totally packed and ready to go, and we ended up giving a lot of her stuff away to people from the Honduras and also renting a U-Haul because the Sequoia was fiiled to the brim. The woman had sooooo much stuff. We worked like dogs :luto: :luto: but did get her moved and finally headed back home 2 days later than planned.
We get back home and hubby starts having trouble sleeping, serious trouble sleeping.
So he FINALLY goes to the Dr. and they say he needs a sleep apnea test. Two days later he feels much worse, goes to another Dr. and they want him to see a cardiologist, which he does the next day. He calls me and tells me they have learned one of the chambers in his heart is only working at 20% capacity. They do a catheterization and determine no blockages to clear, no stents to put in. It is all because of undiagnosed high blood pressure. Undiagnosed because you can't get diagnosed if you don't go to the Dr. in 10 years. :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: So this can only be treated by change of diet, weight loss, and medication, lot's of medication.
So our lives change dramatically. No moe burgers, bacon, french fries, etc. Lots of salads, raisin bran and low-fat skimmed milk. Well, you get the picture. This is big doins for two people who have never paid any attention to what they were eating, and I am the bread and butter queen, "was" is now the right word.
The medication makes hubby almost unable to function. He feels like a slug. He sits down, he falls asleep. He can't even carry the trash out, so I take on All the household responsibilities, in addition to working.
So, first 1/3 of the year, I look after Mom, driving to rehab and/or hospital on a daily basis. Then last 1/3 of the year I look after hubby. Not looking for sympathy, just setting the stage for why I almost got arrested.
In Nov. Mom is hospitalized again and ends up having a pacemaker put in, which did her sooooo much good and she started to finally feel better. So, we start thinking about Christmas and how are we all going to be together. I can't leave hubby and I don't think Mom can fly. She ends up deciding we will all be together, so she flies up here on Dec 19.
We had a delightful Christmas and Mom is scheduled to fly back home on Jan. 7. We had a very quiet New Year's planned, staying a home and taking it easy. Mom went on to bed and we were watching Dick Clark and all of a sudden we hear a big thud and a cry of pain. Mom came back down the stairs and missed the botton two and landed on the hardwood floor. Her knee instantly swells, but she is able to walk. We immediately call my pharmacist SIL and she says to wrap it in an ace bandage, put ice on it and if she can walk, it isn't broken. Things go along find until 3 nights later. As Mom is walking upstairs, she starts having severe pain in the knee area. We get tylenol in her and she heads to bed.
Next morming it looks like someone had inserted a navel orange under the skin right below Momma's knee. I call 911 and off we go to the hospital again. We learn that because she is on coumadin (blood thinner) that it caused that huge hematoma. So after a hospital stay and a difficult rehab stay, Mom was discharged this past Thursday. I got her flight booked to go home today.
We get to the airport, and I get a pass to escort her to her gate. We have Mom in a wheelchair, I have her walker and carry on bag. I can't push both the wheelchair and the walker, so they call for someone to come assist us. We go up the elevator and come out right by a security checkpoint. While they are removing Mom's shoes and jacket to go thru security, a big group with strollers and several little ones merge in front of us, but our tubs with our stuff are already going thru the scanners. At this point I lose site of our "stuff" meaning pocket books and jackets and stuff. I am not a happy camper at all. The person pushing Mom in the wheelchair sends her thru an area on the other side of the thing you walk thru (because of the pacemaker). I go thru the metal detector and run over to get our "stuff" and then walk back over to where Mom is sitting in the wheelchair. The security person starts checking her by patting down her shoulders and arms and in the process pats particularly hard in the area where the pacemaker was installed. Mom starts to cry. I turn around to put on my jacket and make sure I have everything an then I hear Mom cry out again, and the security person has her hand under Mom's foot and is raising the leg with the hematoma. I start yellng no, no, no, and the idiot just looks at me while she is stil holding the leg up. Since she doesn't let go, I raise up both my arms and give her a good shove backwards :Pokepoke: :Pokepoke: I mean what would you do if someone was doing that to your Mom. I could just see us leaving the airport in an ambulance and Mom being here another 2 months. :worried:
She turns and runs away and yells for a manager. The guy comes in and she starts screaming that I pushed her. I explained what happened. I told the girl I was sorry I pushed her but that she was wrong to not find out about any limitations of an 86 year-old woman before she starts man-handling her. Mgr. asks if she is o.k. with that and she shakes her head yes and he asks her to finish checking my Mom and tells me he will talk to the girl about how she handled it later.
We finally get on our way and I realize that the carry on bag with all of Mom's medicine is no where to be found. I really freak out at that point and I find out that they have taken the bag because it was "abandoned." We get the bag and head off to the gate, including our original escort. When we get there, the plane is already boarding.
The escort pushed us up to the front of the line and they take Mom's boarding pass. They ask if they can check her rollater (walker) and they put a tag on it and send it to be checked. The escort then starts pushcing Mom in the wheelchair down the hall to the plane and motions for me to follow with the bag full of medicine. We get to the plane and they help Momma on and I followed along with the bag. Our escort leaves with the wheelchair. They get Momma to her seat and hand her her pocketbook. I lift the blue bag into the overhead and tell the Flight Attendant that she will need assistance with that in Atlanta. She looks at me a little confused and I say, I am not flying, she is going by herself. at this point the Flight Attendant;s eyes go :bugeyed: , but she does't say anything. I hug Momma goodbye and wish her a safe flight and turn and leave. I left the airport with no further incident.
End of story, not quite.
I got a call from Momma when she landed in Atlanta and she tells me that after I left two policemen came on the plane and gave her the third degree. They wanted her birthdate, my name, address and birthdate, etc. They asked her to repeat the story. She never saw me shove the lady, because she was too busy crying, so she couldn't attest to that.
So now, hubby and I are sitting here looking out the window waiting for the police to show up.
Hubby is laughing that he drove the get away car. I am sitting here wondering, just what could they do to me, even moreso, what did I do wrong? Was it the shove, walking onto the plane, I dunno.
If I suddently disappear from these Boards, you might start baking cakes with files in them. I will keep you posted if there any further developments.
Last year (a few days after Christmas in 2004) I went and picked up my Mom, who had been in a rehab center in Destin, Fl. I was bringing her back to my house to recuperate even further and get back on her feet, since she lives by herself.
We got home on New Year's Eve, and two days later we were calling 911 and off to the hospital she goes. Two rehab stays and two hospital stays later, I was finally driving her back to Fl. in April of 2005.
Fast forward to September of 2005, my husband and I drive to Ft. Walton Beach to move mom into assisted living. It was a tough week. She wasn't totally packed and ready to go, and we ended up giving a lot of her stuff away to people from the Honduras and also renting a U-Haul because the Sequoia was fiiled to the brim. The woman had sooooo much stuff. We worked like dogs :luto: :luto: but did get her moved and finally headed back home 2 days later than planned.
We get back home and hubby starts having trouble sleeping, serious trouble sleeping.
So he FINALLY goes to the Dr. and they say he needs a sleep apnea test. Two days later he feels much worse, goes to another Dr. and they want him to see a cardiologist, which he does the next day. He calls me and tells me they have learned one of the chambers in his heart is only working at 20% capacity. They do a catheterization and determine no blockages to clear, no stents to put in. It is all because of undiagnosed high blood pressure. Undiagnosed because you can't get diagnosed if you don't go to the Dr. in 10 years. :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: So this can only be treated by change of diet, weight loss, and medication, lot's of medication.
So our lives change dramatically. No moe burgers, bacon, french fries, etc. Lots of salads, raisin bran and low-fat skimmed milk. Well, you get the picture. This is big doins for two people who have never paid any attention to what they were eating, and I am the bread and butter queen, "was" is now the right word.
The medication makes hubby almost unable to function. He feels like a slug. He sits down, he falls asleep. He can't even carry the trash out, so I take on All the household responsibilities, in addition to working.
So, first 1/3 of the year, I look after Mom, driving to rehab and/or hospital on a daily basis. Then last 1/3 of the year I look after hubby. Not looking for sympathy, just setting the stage for why I almost got arrested.
In Nov. Mom is hospitalized again and ends up having a pacemaker put in, which did her sooooo much good and she started to finally feel better. So, we start thinking about Christmas and how are we all going to be together. I can't leave hubby and I don't think Mom can fly. She ends up deciding we will all be together, so she flies up here on Dec 19.
We had a delightful Christmas and Mom is scheduled to fly back home on Jan. 7. We had a very quiet New Year's planned, staying a home and taking it easy. Mom went on to bed and we were watching Dick Clark and all of a sudden we hear a big thud and a cry of pain. Mom came back down the stairs and missed the botton two and landed on the hardwood floor. Her knee instantly swells, but she is able to walk. We immediately call my pharmacist SIL and she says to wrap it in an ace bandage, put ice on it and if she can walk, it isn't broken. Things go along find until 3 nights later. As Mom is walking upstairs, she starts having severe pain in the knee area. We get tylenol in her and she heads to bed.
Next morming it looks like someone had inserted a navel orange under the skin right below Momma's knee. I call 911 and off we go to the hospital again. We learn that because she is on coumadin (blood thinner) that it caused that huge hematoma. So after a hospital stay and a difficult rehab stay, Mom was discharged this past Thursday. I got her flight booked to go home today.
We get to the airport, and I get a pass to escort her to her gate. We have Mom in a wheelchair, I have her walker and carry on bag. I can't push both the wheelchair and the walker, so they call for someone to come assist us. We go up the elevator and come out right by a security checkpoint. While they are removing Mom's shoes and jacket to go thru security, a big group with strollers and several little ones merge in front of us, but our tubs with our stuff are already going thru the scanners. At this point I lose site of our "stuff" meaning pocket books and jackets and stuff. I am not a happy camper at all. The person pushing Mom in the wheelchair sends her thru an area on the other side of the thing you walk thru (because of the pacemaker). I go thru the metal detector and run over to get our "stuff" and then walk back over to where Mom is sitting in the wheelchair. The security person starts checking her by patting down her shoulders and arms and in the process pats particularly hard in the area where the pacemaker was installed. Mom starts to cry. I turn around to put on my jacket and make sure I have everything an then I hear Mom cry out again, and the security person has her hand under Mom's foot and is raising the leg with the hematoma. I start yellng no, no, no, and the idiot just looks at me while she is stil holding the leg up. Since she doesn't let go, I raise up both my arms and give her a good shove backwards :Pokepoke: :Pokepoke: I mean what would you do if someone was doing that to your Mom. I could just see us leaving the airport in an ambulance and Mom being here another 2 months. :worried:
She turns and runs away and yells for a manager. The guy comes in and she starts screaming that I pushed her. I explained what happened. I told the girl I was sorry I pushed her but that she was wrong to not find out about any limitations of an 86 year-old woman before she starts man-handling her. Mgr. asks if she is o.k. with that and she shakes her head yes and he asks her to finish checking my Mom and tells me he will talk to the girl about how she handled it later.
We finally get on our way and I realize that the carry on bag with all of Mom's medicine is no where to be found. I really freak out at that point and I find out that they have taken the bag because it was "abandoned." We get the bag and head off to the gate, including our original escort. When we get there, the plane is already boarding.
The escort pushed us up to the front of the line and they take Mom's boarding pass. They ask if they can check her rollater (walker) and they put a tag on it and send it to be checked. The escort then starts pushcing Mom in the wheelchair down the hall to the plane and motions for me to follow with the bag full of medicine. We get to the plane and they help Momma on and I followed along with the bag. Our escort leaves with the wheelchair. They get Momma to her seat and hand her her pocketbook. I lift the blue bag into the overhead and tell the Flight Attendant that she will need assistance with that in Atlanta. She looks at me a little confused and I say, I am not flying, she is going by herself. at this point the Flight Attendant;s eyes go :bugeyed: , but she does't say anything. I hug Momma goodbye and wish her a safe flight and turn and leave. I left the airport with no further incident.
End of story, not quite.
I got a call from Momma when she landed in Atlanta and she tells me that after I left two policemen came on the plane and gave her the third degree. They wanted her birthdate, my name, address and birthdate, etc. They asked her to repeat the story. She never saw me shove the lady, because she was too busy crying, so she couldn't attest to that.
So now, hubby and I are sitting here looking out the window waiting for the police to show up.
Hubby is laughing that he drove the get away car. I am sitting here wondering, just what could they do to me, even moreso, what did I do wrong? Was it the shove, walking onto the plane, I dunno.
If I suddently disappear from these Boards, you might start baking cakes with files in them. I will keep you posted if there any further developments.