Hey everyone, it's been one He** of a day!
I got the garage door fixed (as I posted about 12 hours ago) and got a call from our Contractor who wanted to meet about a new job. So instead of knocking on Arline's door to tell her the garage was fixed, I sent her text once I got home.
The meeting went for a little over an hour, and then Bill (our band conductor and one of the employees) stopped by to check and see if Arline was visiting us. It seems his partner (my laundry boy), was worried about her since she seemed out of it when he did her laundry yesterday. She didn't answer her cell phone and he actually went to her house, knocked on the door and she didn't answer.
I rushed over there to find her on the floor in a rather awkward state, completely delirious and unaware of her surroundings. I immediately called the paramedics and then put a towel over her for modesty. They arrived farily promptly (although not as fast as they did in the FIL's upscale neighborhood) and immediately went to work on her. I gave the lead guy as much information as I could, showed him her meds, and they had her out the door in 10-15 minutes.
The first hospital was full in the ER so they actually took her to our #1 choice of hospital. The next hour was just a bunch of driving back and forth phone calls and a mess. She had friends coming to town to stay with her that met me at the hospital, Fran had an infusion and wound Dr. appt on the other side of town. I left the friends to see her since I needed to meet Fran for the wound Dr. appt. By the time I got across town, they determined that she needed emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure on her brain from a hemmorhage and clot that was putting severe pressure on her brain.
So we postponed Fran's Wound Dr. appt and I hightailed it back to the hospital while Fran received her antibiotic drip. I made it with about 10 minutes to spare before our Dr found me in the ER waiting room and took me "backstage" to see her before the surgery. Dr. J informed me that Fran and I were the DPOAs for Arline (which I had completely forgotten in the chaos) and that I was to follow them to the operating floor STAT!
Once she went to surgery we all reconvened in the surgery lounge including the friends, Fran and Dr. J, she basically gave us the run down. No more driving for Arline, we need to look into Assisted Living and it will be a long road in ICU, Regular hospital, Rehab and hopefully by the time she gets out of these a place in an Assisted Living Facility will come up.
Turns out sometime about two weeks ago Arline fell and I guess hit her head again, she didn't want to tell us because she was embarrassed, but finally did. She did not tell us that she hit her head, but she told Dr. J that the lump on her head came from that fall. I thought it was the time about a month ago, but who knows because she has become more and more confused. In one of these times that she fell, she caused enough damage for this brain hemorrhage.
They did emergency surgery, drained the blood from next to her brain, and put in a drain so that the rest of the blood could drain. Once the pressure on her brain is released, they will continue to monitor her and see how she does. She is currently intubated, but there was a severe amount of blood and a rather large clot affecting her brain. She could be a week or more in ICU before they even take her off the sedatives. We have brought her cats to our place and probably just added two more to the herd. Tomorrow we need to talk to the Social Worker about getting her on a list for assisted living.
I've had half a JitB taco, part of a grilled cheese and half a bag of chips to eat today. Funny, I'm not even hungry, but something tells me I need some nourishment. I just feel sick.
I'm glad you found out what was happening, but oh my god, that's terrifying! 
