Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Tuesday, December 3, 2019 -- Mattie died 531 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken on December 5, 2002. Mattie was 8 months old. It was our first snow fall for the season, and of course the first SNOW Mattie ever saw. Look at how the sight of the white stuff stopped him in his tracks. Mattie was transfixed at the front door. 


Quote of the day: Heart block is an abnormal heart rhythm where the heart beats too slowly (bradycardia). In this condition, the electrical signals that tell the heart to contract are partially or totally blocked between the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles). ~ Heart Rhythm Society


I was working at 10pm last night and I heard Peter on his cell phone. I did not think much about it, until he came upstairs and told me that his mom fell down the basement stairs of her home and was on route to the hospital. She is in Boston and we are in Washington, DC. Peter's dad wasn't sure what to do, so he called his other son who lives in Boston. Fortunately Peter's brother told him to get into the ambulance with his wife. But they left the house without a cell phone, so we had to track down which hospital she was taken to and what were the issues. Thank goodness for the police who were very helpful. 

Needless to say, Peter and I were up until 4am talking to Peter's brother and trying to determine what the problem/problems were. What happened..... did she just fall or did something happen to cause a fall?! I was leaning toward the latter. In any case, Peter booked a 6am flight, which given Boston was having a snow storm, I wasn't sure he'd ever get there. 

This was what it looked like at Logan Airport when Peter landed. He said it was a hellish flight!

Snow everywhere. Of course I was concerned that Peter was navigating all of this alone, without my support. But leaving at 6am would have been impossible for me with two animals and a week of commitments. 

When Peter landed, he headed to his parent's home first to feed the cat and pick up a car. The cat is diabetic, so he needs insulin twice a day. Peter gave the cat a shot and then examined where the incident happened. Honestly it looks like a crime scene. Peter's mom fell down these steps and her head hit the ground hard. 

She is dealing with a third degree heart block, a brain bleed, and two fractures in her spine. Of course it took hours last night to come to these conclusions. 

Since I am not in Boston, I am doing the research as info comes into me and then sharing it on a text message stream to Peter, his brother, and my sister in law. So what is a heart block? Your heart isn’t plugged into an outlet, and you don’t use a switch to turn it on. But just like a lamp, your heart runs on an electrical system.

Every time your heart beats, an electrical signal travels from the upper to the lower chambers. Along the way, the signal tells your heart to contract and pump blood. When that signal is slowed down or kept from sending its message, it causes a condition called heart block. This affects the rate and rhythm of your heart, or the number of times it beats and the pattern of those beats.

A heart block can cause dizziness, which is what Peter's mom reported before falling. On her fall down the steps, she hit her head hard which caused the brain bleed and fractures in her spine. This morning his mom had a pacemaker inserted and now they are awaiting a consult with the neuro-radiologist, who will present options for managing the spinal fractures. I am hoping he has an option which will speed up recovery time and enable her to return to her home. 

In any case, if anyone told me this was how we were going to spend our Monday night I am not sure I would have believed them. Given I just saw Peter's mom for Thanksgiving. However, I did make a mental note that she seemed to tire easily and did not have her usual energy. One thing we learned after Mattie was diagnosed, and that is anything is possible and no day is guaranteed to us.