Scrutinous Scribbler

The cardiologist said the same thing the ER doc said.  It was a combination of withdrawal symptoms and then getting a “fix.”  Dad has chronic pain because he has bulging discs in his neck and his knees are bone on bone.  Hopefully within the next 6 months he’ll have all the surgeries he needs and get off all the meds but for now he’s on Percocet.  Coming off Percocet cold-turkey can sometimes be deadly because it’s such a strong pain killer.  He’s not a druggie.  Every doctor who has seen dad’s x-rays admits that he must be in very severe pain and definitely needs the Percocet.  But, it’s so strong that he has been told that people become addicted with the very first dose.  He’s definitely addicted to Percocet, there’s no doubt about that, but he’s not addicted because he’s a recreational drug-user.  He’s addicted because it’s strong stuff that he NEEDS.  Unfortunately. 

Anyway… he’s home for Christmas and I’m happy about that.  He’s feeling a lot better too.  And when it’s time to come off the Percocet, he’ll do it under a doctor’s supervision.  We’ve already seen what quitting cold-turkey can do and it’s frightening.

On a different note, my mom is baking.  Mom loves to bake and she’s great at it.  She’s known at work for her pies.  People who would normally turn down desserts can’t turn down mom’s pies.  However, every time she bakes she gets grumpy.  I always stay the night at my parents’ on Christmas Eve.  When she started baking, she immediately got high-strung and cranky and I packed up my stuff and said I was going home to change and get ready for the day and that I’d be back later.  I’m going to make sure I’m gone long enough for her to get the pies made because I don’t want to be around her right now.

I love to cook and find it very relaxing.  It boggles my mind that she claims to love baking even though she turns into a totally different woman when she’s baking - and I don’t mean that as a good thing.  She’s not a total witch or anything, she just starts snapping at people and the only thing you want to do is get far away from her so she can stew in peace.

I hate that it’s 10:00 Christmas morning and I’m already this frustrated with her.  I said to her this morning, “You’re treating me like I’m stupid,” and she didn’t even reply.  Not even to say, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean that.”  She said absolutely nothing.  Not one word.  Ugh! Ok, I’m going to get ready for the day and try to stop thinking about how much she hurt my feelings for a few minutes. 

…and my dad’s in the hospital. :(

He’d been without his prescription for 24 hours before he was finally able to get it refilled.  When he took it, he started convulsing and slurring his words.  He couldn’t walk or anything.  It was so scary.  Thankfully, I was at my parents’ house when everything happened so I was able to be there with my mom.  We called 911 and the ambulance arrived within about two minutes.  Siloam held him until they got the results on his blood work and EKG.  His blood work was all normal but his EKG was abnormal.  However, the E.R. doctor said an abnormal EKG is actually normal for bypass patients for several months after surgery.  The doc called dad’s cardiologist and he asked for dad to be transferred to a different hospital.  Which is good because our local hospital has a very bad reputation and dad’s cardiologist is a good man that I would trust with my own life.

No word yet this morning on how dad’s doing.  They didn’t transfer him to Springdale until about 11:30 last night.  It’s now 8:00AM and I don’t want to call my mom because I don’t know where she stayed last night.  She might still be asleep though I doubt it. 

What a nightmare.  The ER doc said it sounds like a combination of withdrawal and then a meds fix, but they didn’t want to take any chances since dad recently had bypass surgery.

I really hope dad is home for Christmas.