6/23/09 - H Day 3

Days in hospital: 2. Nights of sleep: -2. Definitive answers: many.

Mom had an angiogram at 6:30am this morning. They found one 90% blockage in one of her arteries and several other 10-20% blockages. They did an angioplasty on the 90%-er and placed a medicated stent to keep the artery open. She did fine through the surgery, which is a great sign, although her blood pressure is staying pretty low and her oxygen is a little unstable. But otherwise, as long as she follows through on the medication regimen they’ve prescribed, she should be ok. But if she doesn’t, the stent will collapse and she will have another heart attack. Mostly it’s time to just flip into major prevention mode to make sure the smaller blockages don’t grow. The official diagnosis is coronary artery disease. The unofficial diagnosis is “she has plaque all over the place!”

My mom has by and large chosen a western medicine intervention-free life. Finding herself in the grips of western medicine fingers has been a tough pill for her to swallow (pun fully intended). She doesn’t understand why this happened. She does yoga every day. Her diet is healthy and clean. No smoking, no drugs, very little drinking, no red meat. This just doesn’t make any sense to her whatsoever. Which I think is at the core of her reticence to just take orders. For most anyone it’s hard to just take what someone gives you when it doesn’t jive with anything else in your life.

And I get it. Really I do. But I also know that if she doesn’t jump through some of these hoops that her dying because of it will make even less sense. So I have already been dubbed Nurse Ratchett. And I’m really fine with that.

Which is why when they discharge her today, the doc will be talking to me as much as to mom. And she’ll be staying with us for a couple of weeks until I can go back down to NM with her. And I’m taking her blood pressure twice a day and making sure she takes her meds. Whether it makes sense or not, it just is right now.