Happy Saturday. It snowed last night but at least it is melting quickly and the sun is shining here today. I hope you are doing okay where you are. I never thought something like this would happen in the world then again with all the other bad things that have happened to me in the last year I guess I should not be surprised. I was really hoping that 2020 would be a better year so far that has not happened though.
Hello February.
Mom had the dental work done I mentioned in my last update on Feb 12th. The nurse came back to get me when she was done and said everything went fine. They didn’t have to use general which was great. I asked if she needed an antibiotic and she said no. They said she could take Advil and Tylenol for pain and to use Perodex and Salt water rinses. She had some stitches but said they would dissolve on their own and we made a follow up appointment for a week later. They said he would call later that night to check on her which he did and things were okay. She continued to do okay for 3 days after that.
On Sunday Feb 16th I called to check in on her as usual. She didn’t answer so I had my sister call and she answered she was still sleeping though which was odd because it was after 11. She called me back and said she had a headache I asked if she took something for it and she said was going to. I asked her if she needed me to come over she said no. I went over a little while later to check on her anyways and I could see she was not doing well. I asked if her mouth was okay and she said it was so I assumed it was still a migraine but it was on the same side as where the dental work was done so I was concerned. She said it was okay for me to go so I left I had a bad feeling though. I Called to check on her again around 4 she said she had taken a shower ate and took her pills but still had a headache. I asked if she needed me to come back over again and she said no and would call me if she did. I didn’t hear from her so I assumed she was okay. My sister called me at 9 saying she didn’t answer the phone I knew something was wrong. My brother in law raced over and found her on the bedroom floor covered in poop and it was everywhere. She must have been lying there passed out for a long time. He had gotten her to the toilet but she could not stand on her own. I tried to clean her up, but it was really hard because it was dried on. The carpet was a mess it looked like a crime scene. I don't know where that came from, she was not having any stomach issues that I knew of before that. She refused to go the hospital, so we got her to the living room with the walker, but she was still very unstable. I called her new health care provider because they are 24/7 and they told me to call an ambulance to come and check her out. She still could not walk on her own she started to fall over when they stood her up. They convinced her to go the hospital, so they took her there and we followed. I sat there for over 4 hours with her. She still said she had a headache while we there and she was even more confused than usual and not remembering much about what happened. They did a CT, Blood and EKG all were normal except for a little inflammation in her Jaw on the side where the headache was and where she had the dental work done. I was still worried it had something to do with the dental work and mentioned it many times but they kept saying she didn't have an infection. They finally decided to admit her around 4 am. I was thankful for that, but they did it on observation status again at that point I didn’t care though so I left to go get some sleep.
The next day they did a MRI and Echo on her. I finally heard from a doctor in the afternoon she said they couldn’t really find anything. Once again I talked to her about the dental work but she still said she didn’t have an infection. I got up there later that night and she was still in horrible pain. You could also see how swollen and red she was on the side of her face where the dental work was done. She was begging for pain meds again and could still hardly walk on her own so she was a fall risk. She was also still very confused even more than usual. I stayed with her until she calmed down and fell asleep. She made it through the night okay. The next morning they did and EEG then called me to say she could go home. They wanted her to go to inpatient rehab but she refused. I finally decided to call the oral surgeon myself because nobody else did. I told them what was going on and they said they would call them. I waited to hear something. I got a call from her nurse saying to come get her. I asked if she had talked to the oral surgeon and she said no. I told her to call them. She got back to me shortly after that and said they told her to just watch for swelling. She was already swollen! At that point I just went and got her and brought her home. She was still in terrible pain. Thankfully she made it through the night but was still not doing well. She saw her regular doctor the next day and they still said she didn’t have an infection she even looked in her mouth and said it looked fine. She was still in terrible pain though. I took her for a follow up with the oral surgeon the next day. He looked in her mouth and immediately said she had a massive infection! He then turned to me and said I told them the hospital to put her on an antibiotic??? I was livid. I didn’t know who to believe at that point. My main concern was to get her on the antibiotic asap. Turns out the antibiotic he gave her was not strong enough though so we had to increase the dose. It took almost 2 weeks to get the infection under control. We did get a nurse, PT and OT from Home Health but it still was not enough so I started looking for more help for her. Once again I kept hitting more walls and was no closer to finding it than I was for him before. I felt like I was going down the same rabbit hole again. More about that journey next month.
I made this piece in honor of Valentines Day before everything went so wrong with my mom. Who doesn't like a cute llama? Inspiration came from Pinterest. I did mine on my Ipad Pro.
Rich also surprised Emilia and I with flowers. Sunflowers for me and a Purple bouquet flowers for her. They were so big I had a hard time getting a photo of them.
Sales in our Etsy shop were starting to slow down again. I did get this great photo from a buyer of her dog wearing one of my boy dog party hats though. Isn't he handsome?
Finally I was able to create this piece for the February Florals and Praise for his Glory Challenge on Instagram. Inspiration came from Amy Latta. The flower was a challenge but I still like how it came out and that verse was definitely comforting for what I have been going through.
That's it for now I am going to try to be back sooner next month with more to share then. In the meantime I hope you stay safe where you are and we all can get our lives back to normal soon.
