Day Two, Hospital Two

Okay...so I think we all knew it was a bad idea to leave the City of Hope yesterday, but my Mom is SO DANG STUBBORN sometimes.

We got home, thought she was much better, then all of the sudden she had pain so bad she couldn't hardly breathe. After the worst of it was over, which was nearly 1/2 hour of intense pain (the kind where she couldn't speak or move...and just stood still with her eyes closed), I asked her if I could call her Doctor. She very happily agreed to that, but then decided not to take his advice. He recommended that she go immediately to the Emergency Room last night, but she said no. I was ticked off at her and said I that I'd like to make her go...to which she laughed at me and said, "I'll win" referring to the fact that she's tougher and stronger than I am, and that there's no way in heck I'll get her to go against her will. FINE. :)

FINALLY, this morning at about 10am she decided enough was enough and said that she needed to go to the ER. I think this decision was only because the Vicodin was just not cutting through the pain. Dad called and arrange for the tests to be transferred from the City of Hope to her local Dr's office so they could know what was already done as far as blood tests and the X-rays.

She was seen by the ER staff about an hour after we arrived and they sent her in for the cat scan. While we were waiting for her to come out of there, her City of Hope doctor called with the results to yesterdays blood tests and said that her white blood cell count was elevated which means that she quite possibly has an infection involved...but that she wouldn't need antibiotics unless they needed to intervene with the stone's lack of progress. Thankfully, about 20 minutes later, Mom came out of the Hospital with a cat scan revealing that the unruly kidney stone is VERY close to passing, and won't need medical intervention.

They drugged her up big time and sent her home. I am so grateful for that, because she is absolutely exhausted. When I left her about 45 minutes ago, she was finally asleep. Dad went and got her prescription (WAY better stuff than Vicodin, thankfully) from the Pharmacy so that she'll be able to be comfortable until the stone passes.

I took a few pictures from the Santa Paula Hospital's front lawn today. The view is fantastic.