Saturday morning Mom suffered from sudden onset double vision. This is often caused by a stroke. I spent two days at St. Agnes Hospital with her. The doctors were great. The admitting doctor used a few simple test to determine that her left eye was not tracking normally. There were CAT scans, MRIs, and other tests. There were evaluations and reports. At the end of the two days, there was no doubt that this was not caused by a stroke. We will be turning to Mom’s ophthalmologist and retina specialist for a possible explanation of the cause. The good news is that her vision started improving Sunday afternoon.

There were some genuinely funny moments. The ER doctor was trying to establish a timeline of events. Mom said the double vision started about 10 of 6 (AM). The Doctor kept on trying to confirm the time was 5:50. The difference was obvious to me, if not to anybody else at first. Mom learned to tell time on an analog clock. With the minute hand so close to the 12, it is much easier to think of it being just 10 minutes before the hour. The doctor leaned on digital clocks, and kept on thinking of the reading she would see on the clock. It didn’t take long for the doctor to see the two were the same, but it was a funny moment.

Then the doctor was trying to test’ Mom’s mental function. She pointed to the wall and asked “What is that device on the wall that tells time?” The correct answer was a clock, but Mom couldn’t see the clock because a nurse’s head was blocking Mom’s view. Then the doctor pulled her smart phone out and asked Mom what it was. Mom’s reply was that she didn’t know about those things — Apples or whatever they are.

The staff throughout the hospital were very good. Hospital rules clearly state I had to wait outside the building until Mom was admitted. The admissions staff quickly offered me an exception when I explained Mom would feel anxious by herself. That was fortunate, because Mom wasn’t admitted until after 5 PM. The hospital is that under-staffed.

Mom was evaluated as a fall hazard. The rules were that Mom had to stay in her bed unless a nurse helped her. When Dani called Sunday morning, Mom swung her legs over the edge of the bed to help her reach the phone. That caused the bed to issue urgent beeps. Then the PA system issued repeated warnings, “Bed exit in room S5011”. The staff were always responsive, but never more so than when they thought Mom was leaving her bed. (I wasn’t there just then, but bed alerts in other rooms occurred while I was there.) In spite of that, the staff was happy to let me walk Mom around. They turned the alarm off. Mom’s room had a family niche that had a window with a great view. We walked over to sit in the sun for a while. Then we walked up and down the hall.

Mom’s back home and doing well. I’ll be contacting doctors and making appointments tomorrow.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.