Well, the night started out ok...AKA - I done blowed up my momma...

Let me preface this post with "everything is fine." Now, onto the tale...

Andi, Howie, and Bobbi came over Thursday night for some Gert time and to share steaks on the grill. We had a delightful evening with Mom being a bit more alert than normal, telling some fun stories, and generally being very entertaining.

Sat in the dining room for a few hours eating dinner and having coffee and dessert. All was fine.  Dinner was da bomb and there wasn't even a lick of homemade potatoes au gratin for any of the 5 dogs surrounding us. Wine flowed followed by more laughter (wonder if that has anything to do with the wine flowing?....I've digressed..)

Anyway...John took an early leave and went to bed around 8 or so as he had an early morning (little did we know then how early a morning he had...).

Everyone left and that's when the trouble started. Dum da dum dum...that's the best I can do at ominous sound effects...

I'll let you guess what she was talking about

After I got Mom upstairs, she was having a really hard time breathing and didn't look too good. I knew it wasn't dinner as I didn't look too bad (chalk that thought up to wine too). So, I woke up John and had him saddle up the dogs and throw them outside and called for an ambulance. Off we went to the hospital for a visit to the ER.

Turns out that Mom was without her oxygen for longer than she should be (remember, Mom and I made a deal when she had to go on O2 as she was distraught at the thought of having to wear it all the time. So, I made a deal with the Devil (aka Mom): She was to wear the oxygen in bed and when sitting in her chair which is 99% of her day - I even oked this with the doctor. We're going for quality of life over here. But, I did let her off her 'leash' when she was in the kitchen or dining room - no longer!).

It'll be a secret why Bobbi is wearing my shirt

Anyway, after our evening of merriment, her feet were swollen with fluid, she had a little fluid in her lungs (no pneumonia, thankfully) but was alert - well, as alert as a 94 year old can be in the ER at 2:30 am. Ron, Linda, John and I kept a watchful eye until she was released at 3:30 am.

So, a dose of lasix later, peeing on the hour, and she was back in her own bed with me in the dog room watching for the night.

She's fine now but lesson learned and heeded. She now uses her O2 even in the kitchen or outside. I've gotten pretty good at switching tanks and have them positioned around the house so the oxygen is always available and pretty easy to get to. It's like anything - it's difficult in the beginning to get used to this new phase in life and then it becomes old hat. Sort of like giving Rita her multitude of eye drops or cleaning Matee's ears daily and dosing her with meds. It's just what we do...

The next day. I only took the O2 off for the picture!!!