Yesterday, I had to "eat a little crow". It wasn't good either! :)
Back up over a year ago...my mom "retired". I put retired in quotation marks because it's hard to think of my mom as retired. She's not that old - she was 54 when she retired...but retired she is. She was a church secretary and, I know you probably don't believe it but, her job was pretty stressful. She announced her retirement in March or April for the end of May. Somewhere between her announcement and her retirement she was diagnosed as being anemic. She had dealt with exhaustion for a while, attributing a lot of it to the stress and the fact that she doesn't sleep through the night. But, I think she realized that this exhaustion was more than just that. I don't think I even realized how serious it was until she said that if her hemaglobin got any lower, she'd need a transfusion. So...they began a battery of tests to determine WHY she was losing blood...she had an endoscopy and a colinoscopy. They tested her for all kinds of stuff. Her doctor didn't want to start her on iron supplements until they could rule out anything else...they never did and they started her on iron supplements. They eventually did two iron infusions (where they basically pump the iron directly into your blood stream...for faster results) and in the late summer/early fall she began to feel better.
Her retirement was one of the hardest things that I've seen her go through...and my mom has been through a lot. Her father passed away when she was 18...her mother followed when my mom was 21/22 (I was 6 mos old)...one of her brothers died suddenly when I was 18 and her other brother died a few years later (very tragically...I can't even write it). Anyway, she went from working 50 hours a week, at least, to having nothing to do. There were other factors that made this a difficult time and her not feeling well only made things worse. She spent some time with Dylan that summer...and some with Alyson. I knew things would get better in the fall when my sister had Ayden...but we had to make it to that point. And Mom wanted to make sure she felt better because Missy having Ayden was part of the reason she was retiring...so she could keep Ayden.
As I hoped & prayed, by the time Missy did have Ayden...and then went back to work, Mom was feeling a lot better. She constantly worries that the problem will come back and that she'll have to start back at square one. So...she tries to keep things in check and gets her regular check ups.
Over the years, Mom has given us a lot of "material" to work with. Sometimes she doesn't realize what she's just said or done...but of course, we do...and then the jokes fly. My dad's famous quote is that "it's an adventure being married to her"! And I can only imagine...sometimes he'll say "the other day, your mom was [fill in the blank]" and my mom just starts giggling. Most of the time she sees the humor in what she's said or done...and the jokes are all in good fun.
So...recently she went for a check up...her white blood cells are up. Sunday night she's telling me that they are testing her for "human parvo" (my dad says she just needs a good de-worming - HAHA!) and then she said, very unsure of herself, they were testing her for Epstein Barr...you know the virus that causes mono, she says... In my head, this sounded so bizarre...because I was pretty sure that mono WAS the virus...and then I thought that Epstein Barr was the test that they do on newborns as an indicator of how healthy they are. I said, I'm pretty sure you can't have "Epstein Barr"...and tried very hard to not giggle too loudly (we were in church)!
Well...folks...I was wrong. And I did admit it and e-mail her an apology. Epstein Barr is a virus and DOES cause mono. I also told her that I really hoped that she doesn't have this...because it's a nasty virus and can cause things other than mono...things even more serious.
So, what was I thinking about ??? The Apgar score. As soon as I typed the words "Epstein Barr" into google, "Apgar" came to mind...and I knew I was wrong.
So...I ate my crow...
She told me she was going to print my e-mail out where I told her she was right and I was wrong and frame it! :)
3 comments:
Oh that is funny and sad all at the same time. I hate it that parents have to be ill. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all is well and she doesn't have it or anything else.
Hey, if she has a lot of time she should BLOG!!!!!
I wonder if anemia makes you more prone to getting mono- shortly after I got diagnosed with anemia in high school I also got mono. I had the full blown kind with glands the size of oranges which meant frequent trips to the ER. I also have to take iron and I have for over 10 years now. Best of luck to your mom, I hope it's not mono.
Dont ya hate when that happens??!!
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