Albatross of Leave

[ismo]

We're in the process of getting ready and packed for our Thanksgiving trip, which starts at 5:30 am on Sunday. (ugh) But the big excitement of the day was a call from my mother, who was very cross and wanted to let me know she was in the ER with the Duchess. She just wanted to tell me, "I do NOT AGREE that I need to be in the hospital." But she couldn't hear anything I said after that, because the ER is very noisy on a Friday night. The Duchess took over the phone to tell me she had taken Mother to her scheduled EKG appointment earlier in the afternoon. The EKG showed that she probably had aortic stenosis, and the doctor said she should go to the ER for more tests. The poor Duchess has been in the ER ever since. She says they're still waiting for results of a test to see if Mother had a heart attack. Then they will admit her overnight so a cardiologist can evaluate the results. And then they'll probably offer her a TAVR procedure, which is a heart valve replacement done via catheter through the femoral artery. This is probably her best option, since there's a low survival rate once aortic stenosis has become severe enough to be symptomatic, and there isn't any effective management other than valve replacement. I only know this because I looked it up, at the Duchess's request. I've been texting Queenie and Mr. Science's elder daughter with updates. It's a lot of stress--and of course it's holiday time, and a Friday night at the ER! It so often seems to work out that way. I don't know why people can't have medical emergencies on, say, a Tuesday in maybe April.