To the Hospital

Michele and I just got back from Missouri Baptist hospital, where Dee Dee is spending the night. Diane was with her when we left, and Ace is probably heading there at some point, too.

(By the way, Ace took her to the doctor on Friday and did indeed find that Dee Dee had a urinary tract infection. So Roxana was correct in that guess. We started her on antibiotics last night, and in fact she seemed not at all combative or agitated last night.)

Dee Dee is mostly fine. She's pretty alert. X-rays and MRI (or maybe CT scan?) came back negative. She's complaining about back pain and won't/can't walk. If she had walked for the doctors tonight, they would have sent her home with us, in fact.

We were hanging out at home today while my mom and dad took the girls to the movies. I was getting ready to take Dee Dee to White Castle when I find her on the floor in her room, sitting up. She's scooting across the floor. I rush over to her and offer to help her up. She strongly discouraged me from helping her up and said she just wanted to rest.

Alright - I can't help someone up who wants to stay on the floor. But instead of resting, she scooted into the hallway and then laid down for a few seconds, then sat up and scooted more, then laid down, etc. All the while she just told me she was fine - she just needed to rest.

She eventually scooted to the front foyer on the hard-wood floor and laid down on her back, eyes closed. It really looked like she was asleep. Her breathing and pulse were normal. But we couldn't wake her up for anything. Michele was yelling into her good ear and got no response.

When we tried to help her up, she strongly resisted. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't talking, but she definitely wanted to stay right where she was. It was the strangest thing. Whenever we tried to cover her up or hold her hand, she strongly waved or kicked us away.

Eventually, after consulting Ace and Diane and the on-call doctor, we called 911. They whisked her away. As they lifted her into the ambulance, she was yelling at the EMS guys to leave her there. All still with her eyes closed.

Once in the ER, Michele tells me they had a normal conversation. She was a little groggy from the sedative the EMS guys gave her (to get her to calm down enough for an I.V.) but otherwise seemed normal. They ran a bunch of tests over the next few hours, but they all came back negative.

She's complaining of back pain. At one point she said that she hurt her back falling out of her chair in her bedroom. But then later she said her back was fine until she had to lay so long in the hospital bed. So who knows. Nothing's broken, though.

The next step is to get her to walk. Michele and I are worried that once she's checked into the hospital, there might be a slow recovery. That's what happened in February when she went to the hospital for a bowel impaction and then got dehydrated and wound up having to spend weeks in a nursing home.

We'll keep the blog updated as we learn more.