Where do I even begin???

Last Tuesday, I had just gone to the gym (yep...go me!) and was getting ready for the day when my dad called to say that she was being rushed to the hospital by ambulance because her doctor said her "body was about to go into shock."

My mom had been fighting a yucky illness for over a week -- high fever (104-plus at times), weakness, and soreness in her neck and back.  Because it was the week of the 4th and their regular doctor was on vacation, my dad took her to two different ERs trying to get a diagnosis, relief, something.  Both times, she was told she just had a bad virus, and based on her blood work, they didn't see the need to do a spinal tap to confirm a meningitis diagnosis because nothing in her blood work suggested that she had an infection like that.

So when my dad was able to take her to her usual doctor, he sent her to the hospital right away to be admitted.

Darryl was literally at the gate of the Baton Rouge airport, about to go on a trip for four days.  I called him, and within an hour, the three of us were packed and in the car, headed to Florida.

On the way there, my dad would call to update us.  This hospital (a different one from the ones they had been to) did a spinal tap right away and diagnosed her with viral meningitis.  (While any kind of meningitis is serious, the viral form is the less severe of the two.)

From that point on, my mom's health seemed to be a roller coaster.  I would leave the hospital in the evening feeling that she was truly getting better, then the next day she would seem worse.  At first, all the fluids they gave her through IV seemed to energize her a little, but then her body wasn't getting rid of the fluid quickly enough, so she had to be put on some strong diuretics to get rid of the fluid. Then her sodium was too low and she had to take a pill for that.

(I also must pause here to say a HUGE "thank you" to Darryl's sister, Ashley, and our sister-in-law, Daphne, for helping us so much with Amelia. Daphne met us at the hospital to get Amelia to take her to Ashley's house...we wanted Amelia as far away from all this as possible.)

We left on Saturday, after she seemed to be getting steadily better for about two days, and the hospital released her on Sunday.  However, since then, the roller coaster has continued. Good days, bad days...and so it goes.

I was waiting to blog about this when things really seemed to be on the "up and up," but my dad called today to say she is going back the hospital.  She is getting progressively weaker, and the theory is that her sodium might be dipping again and she needs to be where she can be monitored and cared for.  Right now, my plan is to stay put if it truly is just a matter of getting her body chemistry "balanced."  Please continue to send prayers and/or good thoughts her way because she is OVER this. Way over it.

I hope my next update is a positive one!