Letters to Holly

Wednesday, November 18

Emergency Room

I got a call from a doctor couple who work with My Mom that she went to the emergency room with some arm weakness and facial droop this morning. She's lucid and relaxed. Preliminary diagnosis is a TIA, a pseudo ministroke whose effects may vanish within a day or a few hours. She's undergoing tests. I'm still in NC. Mom didn't want me to be informed until she had a concrete diagnosis, and I'm staying put until I get the word. This is how we handled her gall bladder when it flared up this summer. The doctor wife called Your Sister who called me to wait for the doctor husband to call me. All this contact is behind Mom's back.

At best, she'll realize this is a warning to knock off that fucking smoking and eat some meals. At worst, she'll be reliant one someone else to a degree. But that's for later planning.

Now you know as much as I do. Tell no one else until we get news.

Twenty minutes later: It's Bells Palsy. She's on the way home, but I haven't talked to her directly and don't know what she was told to expect or to do. Still sitting tight.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's good news if it's bell's palsy...while annoying, it doesn't portend of something more serious in the future (says the second year medical student who has had very little interaction with non-actor patients). But I did like the impetus to stop the smoking angle you were going to take if it was a TIA. We both know that smoking is the worst thing to do to your health, and quitting can be the most beneficial thing she can do for herself.
And no one shall be told of this. not a one and not a peep.

Gregory said...

I've talked to Mom, and she's OK. She was terrified it was a stroke. They said very early on that it wasn't and went immediately to a Bells diagnosis.

She has some eye medicine to keep one eye from drying out (it won't close completely). She was told the symptoms would go away in a few weeks.

There is a prominent wrestling announcer who's had it for ten years, and it's flared up three times. He's the face and voice of the show. I told her this to stress this isn't wholly debilitating or degenerative.

Thanks for your comments.