Got a call yesterday from a friend who got that scary phone call we sometimes have to face caring for our aging parents. Her mother was in the hospital, 2000 miles away. The doctors had put her mother into a coma to stabilize her.
Now the big issue. The hospital was small, and there was no specialist to care for her. They needed to transfer Mom to a larger city hospital, but because of a crisis in that city, the hospital had no beds. My friend arrived after many hours on the plane and four more on the ground to see her Mama in a coma. I tried to support her through it, asked if the doctors thought her Mom could make the trip to a specialist in another hospital in another city in another state (five hours away), and she said they thought she could because she was stabilized. I encouraged her to get her mother there, call ahead and talk to the hospital to get them prepared for her Mom's arrival (don't just count on one hospital to communicate accurately or urgently enough to the other) and get the specialist to give the family the best information, then with that information, make the next decision.
My heart and prayers goes out to my friend and her family in a very special way. I was always blessed to have a great hospital nearby who could take my Mom right away. I can only imagine the emotional trauma and stress on my friend's Dad, her siblings flying in from all over the country, faced with a hospital that can't offer much help, while dealing with the anxiety and fear of how to care for mom and not wanting to lose her just like this.
With love to my friend and blessings to you, Jane Allison
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