Instead of being in the bedroom in case the EMT's decided Mom needed to go to Modoc Medical Center Emergency room in Alturas, California. Now all I could do is just wait for them to arrive and check her vitals. To see if Mom was ill enough and needed to be transported to the hospital emergency room and to let the EMT's be the ones to make the call, instead of me trying to take her on my own, as I have done on an occasion or two in the past. It would have been difficult and very hard to walk her out the front door, down the steps off of the front porch and into my van, then drive Mom to the Modoc Medical Center Emergency room in Alturas, California. Then try and get her out of my van to put her in her wheel chair (I bought years ago for when she needed to use it, instead of her cain on the occasions when she got tired out from walking).
The flu had been going around at that time, and even though Mom and I both had our flu shots. Mom had not had the flu that was in the air at the time. I still to this date don't know how she did not end up with it? In my case, the flu shot made no difference. I got the flu anyway where you were vomiting and having diarrhea all at the same time; but it had not affected Mom yet. She was only complaining about the pain in her left top chest area, under her breast again.
A few weeks earlier Mom had a MRI at Merle West Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Where they did not find anything on the MRI and the appointment we had set for a few days later, for a mammogram at Lake District Hospital in Lakeview, Oregon to see if she might have a cancerous lump, on her breast. But that test would have been too difficult for a person her age, so I canceled the test right after I spoke with the technician at Lake District Hospital in Lakeview, Oregon. She had suggested it might be hard on a person Mom's age to take the test. Living in a rural area means you have to go great distances in-order to have medical tests done, as not all Medical Centers have all the latest medical equipment. Majority of the time you do not find out the information you need to make educated decisions, until after you have driven there, for the test that has been ordered by the doctor or clinic practitioner where you live, like in Alturas, California.
During the time I had the flu I called and left a message at the Modoc Medical Clinic about the probability that Mom may get the flu like I did so they ordered her a prescription. The Modoc Medical Clinic returned my call to let me know that they sent over a prescription to Rite Aid in Alturas, California. Right after they called from the Modoc Medical Clinic the neighbor next door had just arrived home. I asked if she would mind keeping an eye out for Mom. Just in case Mom tried to walk out the front door and leave. Not that Mom could or would in the condition she was in. The neighbor agreed she would keep an eye out for me, knowing what I was up against at caring for my Mom fulltime 24/7 by myself with no help from any family members or anyone good I could find to help me with Mom. Everyone I knew were down with the flu too, that was going around in Alturas, California.
Mom seemed to be getting better but it was not long before I could no longer get her to eat and drink any fluids and my thought at the time it was the flu catching up with her, as it did me. And the Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, California had sent a prescription over to Rite Aide in Alturas, California for nausea in case I needed it, and I went real fast and picked it up, leaving her alone to go and get it, as I had no one to stay with her, so I had to take the chance. And except for the neighbor next door, who just arrived home and would do me a favor of keeping an eye out while I went to pick up the prescription at Rite Aide for Mom. She could not get up on her own, so I did not worry to much about her getting out the front door and wondering off with her Dementia and full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
The paramedics had arrived where they took her vitals as they always do in emergency situations and like a couple of weeks earlier while our landlord Dick Steyer (who formally served on the City Council for several years and once even served as Alturas City Mayor) was having a new roof installed on our home that we were renting in Alturas, California. I had to call 911 then and that is when Mom first started to go down hill I was just not aware of it at the time. That is what started the chain of events for all the tests. The MRI that was ordered by the Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, California the last time I called 911 where they took her from her bedroom; instead of the living room the last time the emergency personal EMT's came out to take her to the Modoc Medical Center. The Doctor ordered an MRI and a mammogram that were to be administered and the closest place to get the tests done was at Merle West Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Oregon for the MRI and the mammogram was going to be at Lake District Hospital in Lakeview, Oregon on two different occasions, dates and time.
The EMT's came to the conclusion after taking her vitals that Mom was ill enough to be transported to Modoc Medical Center. In the mean time I put Feisty out in the back yard, put her food and water out so she would be taken care of until I got back. I could then meet up with Mom in the Emergency Room at Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, California. I got ready and left as soon as I could. I spent the entire morning hours with Mom. This time they put her on oxygen and I did not think much about it at the time as I look back, but if I had been paying more attention and would not have been so tired, it would have been an indication that she was going down hill and going fast. But after awhile you take it for granted each and every time you take someone you love and care about to the hospital (you do not expect them to pass away as those thoughts are the last thoughts or last thing a person thinks about in situations like this one).
I stayed with Mom until they decided they needed to admit her and this was a first for Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, California. The ER Doctor figured Mom was ill enough this time to be admitted and ordered Mom a room at Modoc Medical Center. I agreed and waited until they moved her to a room and stayed with Mom for a while, then I left to get a break by going back to the house to check up on Feisty to see how she was doing since I had been away at the Modoc Medical Center with Mom most of the day.
I do not recall what time it was when I left, but I took a break at home to get something to eat and rest myself before heading back to Modoc Medical Center in Alturas, California with the plan on spending the rest of the afternoon and evening with Mom. By the time I returned Mom was giving the staff a hard time about keeping the oxygen tube in her nose. My Mom was most of the time a good patient, until they piss her off then she lets them know what she thinks of them in a nice way, until she reaches her toleration for pain, then she screams at them to get out the way she is going home. Most of the comments over the years have always been by people she meets for the first time or they have known her for while. They always called her a 'sweetheart' and they just loved her. Even staff or ER personal at just about every Medical Clinic or Medical Center Mom has been to over the years, since I have been her full-time caregiver 24/7. They always said to her that she was the best patient they ever had and she was a sweetheart.
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