This is going to be fairly long, but I need to get some advice please.
In April 2004, my mom had what was to be the first of 8 back surgeries. She had complication after complication. The Dr basically told her if she didn't have the first surgery then, she wouldn't be able to walk in 6 months. Her spine had compressed onto her nerves and she was losing feeling in her legs. So there were going to build some kind of metal cage to separate her vertebrae and then drill around the nerves in her spinal cord to give them more room. During the first 2 surgeries they nicked her spinal cord and she ended up with a spinal fluid leak and horrible headaches. She had to lie flat in the hospital for a week while it healed, and both times she contracted pneumonia. Next they went to implant a nerve stimulator (she has a remote controll thingy that she uses to turn it on for pain releif). There were many complications with that also, so additional surgeries were needed.
She still loses feeling in her legs and has had several horrible falls (one resulting in 60 stiches in her knee...) She also has Fibromyagia which doesn't help the situation.She's been on pain meds for the last 2 years. And I mean STRONG stuff. Oxycontin, Neurontin....Now the doctor put her on Morophine!
This is so hard for me. I'm an only child and a single mom. My mom is only 53 and she's always been so strong. She raised me by herself, she went back to college at 48 and earned her 4 year degree by the time she was 50. She's smart, funny and has always been a workaholic. Now she's so different. She had to leave her job of 28 years, and is on long term disability. I work full time and live about 45 mins away, so I don't see her every day. I took her to lunch yesterday and she was a completely different person. We've always shared a strange sense of humor, but she wasn't laughing at all. She fell asleep in mid-sentence twice on the 20 minute car ride to the restaurant, and I wanted to cry. My step dad takes her to her appointments, and we don't have a great relationship, so I'm kind of out of the loop. Is it out of line for me to call her surgeon? She has to have another surgery in June, and I'm so scared. She takes about 20 different meds a day, the nerve pills for her legs keep her awake, so she takes sleeping pills, then the pain pills, then pills for her stomach because some pills make her nauseus.
I'm miss my "old" mom
In April 2004, my mom had what was to be the first of 8 back surgeries. She had complication after complication. The Dr basically told her if she didn't have the first surgery then, she wouldn't be able to walk in 6 months. Her spine had compressed onto her nerves and she was losing feeling in her legs. So there were going to build some kind of metal cage to separate her vertebrae and then drill around the nerves in her spinal cord to give them more room. During the first 2 surgeries they nicked her spinal cord and she ended up with a spinal fluid leak and horrible headaches. She had to lie flat in the hospital for a week while it healed, and both times she contracted pneumonia. Next they went to implant a nerve stimulator (she has a remote controll thingy that she uses to turn it on for pain releif). There were many complications with that also, so additional surgeries were needed.
She still loses feeling in her legs and has had several horrible falls (one resulting in 60 stiches in her knee...) She also has Fibromyagia which doesn't help the situation.She's been on pain meds for the last 2 years. And I mean STRONG stuff. Oxycontin, Neurontin....Now the doctor put her on Morophine!
This is so hard for me. I'm an only child and a single mom. My mom is only 53 and she's always been so strong. She raised me by herself, she went back to college at 48 and earned her 4 year degree by the time she was 50. She's smart, funny and has always been a workaholic. Now she's so different. She had to leave her job of 28 years, and is on long term disability. I work full time and live about 45 mins away, so I don't see her every day. I took her to lunch yesterday and she was a completely different person. We've always shared a strange sense of humor, but she wasn't laughing at all. She fell asleep in mid-sentence twice on the 20 minute car ride to the restaurant, and I wanted to cry. My step dad takes her to her appointments, and we don't have a great relationship, so I'm kind of out of the loop. Is it out of line for me to call her surgeon? She has to have another surgery in June, and I'm so scared. She takes about 20 different meds a day, the nerve pills for her legs keep her awake, so she takes sleeping pills, then the pain pills, then pills for her stomach because some pills make her nauseus.
I'm miss my "old" mom
