Not diesel related... but my mother is in the hospital...

[Mölyapina]

This spring, my mother went from feeling as normal as she does, (she has a lot of health problems -- numerous joint issues, a recent year-long battle with Lyme disease), to feeling so dizzy that she could not stand. They went into the doctor and she was diagnosed with an inner-ear problem, put on some medication, and seemed to improve. Several weeks later, as a follow-up, they did an MRI on her head and found that she a benign tumor in her brain that had caused a blood clot. To the ER we went, and she was in the hospital for three days, after which she was released and put on Cumadin.

She had surgery in July and was in the hospital for five days -- in a LOT of pain, enough that she couldn't hide it (which is a lot -- she is very tough about pain, which she is in all the time anyway). She is off the blood thinners and has been recovering slowly but surely, but last week she noticed that what's left of the scab on her head was oozing a little bit of liquid. She went in to see her doctor's NP, and she said that it should be okay, but to let her know if it gets worse. Long story short, it did. She went to see the NP again today, had a CAT scan, and it turns out to indeed be an infection. She is in surgery now... they have to take out the and clean the titanium plate that they put in to replace the part of the skull that they took out. She'll be in the hospital for several days after the surgery, apparently.

I'm concerned that this will bring on some of the pain that she had after the last surgery... some of the worst pain I've ever seen her in. My sister and I drove in this afternoon and will remain here 'til a while after her surgery (the surgery is only supposed to take 45 minutes), and then we will drive home and then get up tomorrow before six to try to beat the traffic into Boston (not that that'll do it -- trying to beat the traffic into Boston is wishful thinking ).

I'm tired .