My Single Mom Life

I'm just following up this post I wrote the other morning about my neighbor who was in really bad shape.

Ok, first of all, the reasons she didn't want to go to the hospital.
Number 1, her husband is a dick.
Yes, this is that neighbor.
Second, she was worried about her son, the what ifs were scaring her.
If she was admitted, who would care for her son, her husband is a dick, she didn't want her son coming home to her not being there, he'd be scared.
The reason she was so out of it was because her oxygen tank had been turned off completely, she had taken 2 muscle relaxers and 2 very potent pain pills, and fell into a deep pain pill sleep.
Her pupils were like pin dots, I should have known it was pain medication that was causing this.
But when you combine those potent pills with a diabetic with congestive heart failure, and no oxygen getting to her, you end up with someone in a very bad state.

Her doctor did not admit her to the hospital, but he did order an xray to try and determine why she's in so much pain and unable to move much.
Well the results of the xray are back, and she's in very bad shape.
Cervical discs 3-7 are pretty much destroyed, and there's a rotator cuff issue as well.
She has to go for an open MRI tomorrow morning at 9:30am.
She then has an appointment with an endocrinologist on June 2nd, for her diabetes and a TON of blood work, and we are waiting on the neurologist to call back so we can schedule that appointment.

I was over at her house for about the last hour or so, helping her make all these appointments because she can barely move at all, and she has no one who can help her make all these calls.
She called her husband who was out of work already, and he basically told her to do it herself, he'd be home when he gets home.
The doctor put her on even stronger medication for the pain, and so I'm also trying to make sure she doesn't take more than she should be taking.
Personally, I think her doctor wrote her script too high.
He put her on 30mg oxycontin, 2 at at time, every 4 hours.
That's way, way, way too much oxy.
I read the pill bottle and was like whoah, that is far too much, and she handed me her papers from her appointment today.
That's what he wrote out for her to take.
Still, I'm just thinking it's far too much at once and every 4 hours.

She has to have surgery ASAP, on those cervical discs and the rotator cuff.
She is terrified she won't survive the surgery.
She was crying, thanking me for helping her, and she said she knows she won't come off the table alive.
She said to me "Kat, I'm 44 years old, I weigh 450 pounds, I have congestive heart failure, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and have already had major back surgery 10 years ago. I won't live through this one."
I told her to stop thinking like that, that she can't start thinking negatively, and if she can't try to be positive for herself, she needs to try to be positive for her son who was in the other room, scared out of his mind.
I continued making the phone calls, leaving messages where I had to, leaving her phone number and mine in case they can't reach her, writing down all her appointments on one piece of paper so she can have them all in one place, and organizing her meds for her.
She told me she was very tired, so I told her I was going to let her get some rest, and I'd come back over when the neurologist calls back.
I brought the phone into the room where her son was, told him to answer every call and not make her talk to people, tell them she'd call them back later, she's resting right now, and come get me if it's a doctors office.
I was keeping track of all the appointments, so I need to make sure this one gets scheduled right for her, not on the same day or time as another one.

He asked me if she was going to be ok, he was really scared.
I told him that the doctors are doing everything they can to make her better, that she will get good care, and we'll do what we can do here at home to help her when she comes home from the surgery, just like she did for me when I came home.
She cooked meals for us, helped the boys when she could, gave them rides to get groceries etc. I'll do the same for her.
So that's the update.
I'm scared for her, this is the worst I've seen her in the 4 years they have lived next door to me now, her health is very bad. Part of it is her fault, her weight is a big issue, her doctors have been telling her to lose weight for a long time, but it's too late now.
She just needs to get to all these appointments and get the surgery.
She needs to think positive about this as best she can. Her son needs her to be positive, he's so scared.