I have always felt time different than others. It is more pressing, more urgent. The best time to complete a task is now. The second best is also now. Get it done or get out of the way so someone else can do it. That is my general feeling all the time. I get physically ill at the thought of being late. I always allow extra time for travel, and if people are not on schedule my world begins to crumble.
Now imagine the discover a condition in my mother that all the medical sites online say is urgent. That is fatal if untreated and the causes range from bad to catastrophe. Then imagine the doctors are in no hurry what-so-ever to see them. That the earliest appointment they can get is September of next year.
September of next year for a nearly immobile 85 year old with COPD and several other medical issues was always in doubt. Add fluid on the brain to it and it is even more so. Like my father used to say, “Don’t grow old.”
It is a terrible and powerless feeling. You want the best for your loved one and understand the lack of urgency from the doctors might very well be the fact that she is an 85 year old, nearly immobile person, with COPD, and several other health concerns.
I’d hate to think all local neurologists are in a triage situation but it isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. The other is to consult a lawyer and see if a wrongful death lawsuit is on the table if the worst does happen because of this and because of the delay in her being seen.
It is a terrible thing to have loved ones approaching the end. Days and nights are filled with uncertainty. Any day could be the day or it could be several months.
I remember once. We were visiting Baltimore, around the time I was six, and I told my mother she wasn’t allowed to die. She told me that wouldn’t be for a very long time. Is 38 years a very long time?
David Huzzard Writes 