TheBanyanTree: Two long weeks (part two)

[Wolfie]

On 21 Mar 2004 , Wolfie made this statement:

> We dragged the kids out of bed, threw a few handfuls of clothes into a
> couple of bags, shoved the dogs into the car, and took off for HV.

So off we went, rushing madly down the parkway with hubby, one kid, two 
small dogs, and suitcases in one car, and me, the other kid, two large 
dogs, and all the kennels and other dog stuff in the other car.

Two and a half hours later, we arrived in BG at my Mom's house.  We 
dragged the kids out and put them to bed.  We hauled out the kennels and 
assembled them, then put the dogs to bed as well.  By now it's 3:45am our 
time, and having crossed the time zone line, it was 2:45 in BG and HV.

Once everyone was settled, hubby and I got back in the car for the hour 
and a half ride to HV.

We arrived at the hospital about 4:15am.  My husband had now been up for 
almost 24 hours straight, with one brief not-quite hour of sleep.  We 
found my SIL sitting, zombie-like, in the ICU waiting area.  She told us 
that once she and MIL's husband had gotten my MIL checked in, he had 
loudly and rudely informed everyone that since they weren't listening to 
him anyway, he was just going to go home.  That was at 12:30, and my SIL 
had been sitting at the hospital ever since, with no clothes or 
toiletries, which were at his house, and no key to his house.  She had 
handled everything very well, but once she saw her brother, she just 
folded up like a broken kite.  

My husband went into the ICU and found the nurse who was taking care of 
his mom.  He got a disturbing report from him, and then asked to see his 
mom.  He asked her what she wanted done if her heart should stop, and she 
told him that her heart had stopped once, years ago, and they brought her 
back.  She wanted us to try.  My husband came out to inform us and the 
nurse of her decision.  After a long discussion, we decided we had to 
sleep.  MIL was stable for the moment, and the nurse told us we looked 
terrible, that we probably needed sleep before any other decisions needed 
to be made.  We went to a hotel to try and get a few hours of sleep.  
That was at 5:00am.

We managed to get almost 3 hours of sleep before my SIL's new cell phone 
started ringing.  She had just gotten it the day before, and didn't know 
how to answer it or turn off the ringer.  After the third unsucessful 
call in 20 minutes, we gave up on the idea of sleep.  My husband figured 
out how to see who was calling.  It was my SIL's husband.  She called him 
back only to find out that one of her kids was having to come home from 
school with vomiting and diarrhea.  Just one more thing to worry about.  
8:30am now, and we were running on negative sleep.

We made the short drive back to the hospital.  The ICU nurse who had been 
there was still on duty, and we asked him how things were going.  He 
looked us in the eyes and said that honestly, he had been working in ICU 
a long time, and he had seen the look of death before.  That was what he 
was seeing in her eyes.  He told us he didn't really think she would ever 
be able to leave the hospital.

My husband went back in to see his mom.  He asked her again how much 
effort she wanted us to put into her resuscitation, should her heart 
stop.  He said the doctors didn't think it would be soon, but we needed 
to know.  She looked at him and said, "Yes, it will be soon."  She asked 
him to tell the doctors not to try to resuscitate her.

After he came out to tell us this, and to tell the nurses, MIL's husband 
showed up.  He was having a fit because the attending doctor was Indian.  
He didn't want any "damn indian" working on his wife.  He ranted and 
raved and yelled, and finally we talked him into going to find his 
"regular" doctor.  He was hoping to get the doctor changed to a nice 
white man, and we just wanted to get him out of the hospital.  

We spoke again to the nurse, and he reassured us that MIL was still 
stable, though in critical condition.  Her blood pressure had dropped so 
much before they got her to the hospital that her kidneys had shut down. 
Her blood pressure was still extremely low, and she was suffering from 
Acute Tubular Necrosis.  You just don't recover from that.  They had 
given her 2 liters of fluid when she got there, and she had only put out 
2.7 milliliters of urine.  Very bad sign.  She was also becoming non-
responsive again.

We asked how long she had, in his (the nurse's) opinion.  He told us it 
could be hours or days.  He'd seen patients last for weeks in that 
condition, but she might give up and be gone in just a couple of hours.  
We decided that we had to have sleep.  So it was late in the afternoon 
(by now I had lost all track of time, and wasn't even sure what day it 
was) that we decided to go back to BG and sleep at my Mom's house.  My 
SIL would come with us, and sleep at her aunt's house.  Fortunately, the 
house there in HV was open, though my MIL's husband wasn't home, and we 
were able to get my SIL's things.  She had no desire to stay at his home 
after the way he had treated her the night before, and we agreed.  She 
got in her car, and was to follow us back to BG.

We hadn't gotten 10 miles down the road before my husband pulled off onto 
the shoulder.  I had been off in my own little world, gazing off into the 
distance, and I asked him what he was doing.  He said that his sister had 
just "lost it" a mile or so back, and was weaving around like a drunk.  
He went to drive her and her car, and I drove our car the rest of the way 
to BG.

To be continued...
-- 
Wolfie
wolfljsh at insightbb.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~wolfljsh/index.html