It was a bumpy visit. For most of the time my precious baby sister was in drug-induced psychosis, restless and paranoid and basically "not herself." Each day she got a bit better, a tiny bit more lucid, but still waaaay out there. I talked to her doc about this and he confirmed that she had been given so many drugs over the past five months that the tipping point had been reached and she just slipped over the edge. He said it would be at least another 24 hours until she "woke up" normal, or what passes for normal. I saw her Wednesday and it was quite an experience. I've never known anyone who is psychotic; it was instant education. She knew who I was but thought I was there for nefarious purposes. Thursday she was quite a bit better, still sure the doctors and staff were out to get her, were torturing her by hooking her up to machines (that would be dialysis), and that she was going to die right then and there at their hands. I bid her a tearful farewell, went home and prayed like the dickens. We left after lunch, spent the night with Alex and Pete in Long Beach. Out to dinner last night at a Greek restaurant; much too loud (I'm getting old) and not very good, but it was lovely to have dinner together even if we had to yell to be heard. We hit the road at 6:15 AM this morning, Em snoozing in the back. Arrived about 2, tired but happy to be here.
First thing I did when we got home was listen to my phone messages. Lo and behold! Two completely lucid, coherent messages from Vic asking me to call. I did, and she is easily 100% better. The doc was right; it took a day to get her mind working again. She does remember how loony she was, knows it was the meds, is embarrassed at her various outbursts, but mostly is happy to "be back" with all of us. I am happy to have her, too. Now it's a matter of being certain that all the drugs are out of her system and then they'll let her go home. Perhaps on Sunday. They have figured out the cause of the terrible pain ~ a pinched nerve in her back, under her right "wing" caused by the shrinking of two vertebrae. At least now they know what they're trying to treat.
2 comments:
Great news, you all had to be terrified. I never "met" your sis before, so this post was most welcome.
My God, what a tale. And it's so true about the effects multiple drugs have on the system, and sometimes they don't clue you in about what's going on, like these doctors appear to have done. Glad your sis is better.
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