Fear

The moment my father called tonight, I knew that something was wrong. My mother was in the hospital with congestive heart failure. She'd had difficulty breathing and there was fluid in her lungs.

I called my brother. He called my cousin the cardiologist, who spoke with the ER doctor.

She's apparently stable now and is being kept in the ER overnight. Some of the tests came back, and the doctors decided that tomorrow they'll move her to the Progressive Care Unit (PCU)/Telemetry Unit, which is less intensive than an ICU. Taken with the fact that she's got some color back and is not on a respirator, I must take this as a good sign.

My brother is flying up tomorrow morning. My cousin will go on Sunday and hope they let him see the chart. (Actually, he said, a patient can request to see his/her own chart...and then show it to someone else.) Once she's in the PCU, I will send flowers. I feel very badly that I am not flying up, but I just can't, for a number of reasons. I think my mother will understand and, in fact, will even protest that my brother's come up (she's already telling my father that he doesn't need to call everyone--one sister was called and came to the hospital. The one in Florida will be called tomorrow, as will her brother).

At any rate, I want my mother to feel that we are there with her, even if we cannot be. Flowers. Not sure how else. I should have the kids call and speak to her too, once she's settled in a room. Any suggestions?

And can anyone please put my mother in his/her thoughts for a refuah shlemah, a complete recovery? Thank you so much.