mum leaves for london on sunday, but was in hospital 2 days ago

[claireb]

last Sunday we had a great shock - my mum got a panic attack, she started shaking so much and feeling cold that we had to cover her with blankets. We gave her half a dose of her valium ( she had got an attack before and the doc told us to giver her valium in this case) She managed to sleep for a bit but then she woke up as she needed to go the bathroom, she started throwing up and she nearly fainted.  we called the doc and after examining her found her to have a fever of 101degrees.  so the doc suggested taking her to the hospital.  we took her in an ambulance and by this time she was very drowsy, propably still under the effect of the valium. any way, i was with my parents at the hospital and they examined her again. her blood pressure was ok, her heart ecg was ok too.  my main concern was whether she had the episode cause of her AN.  i spoke to the doc privately and asked whether the throwing up was related to any fliud buildup in her brain.  so they preformed tests on her like making her touch the tip of her nose and then the doc's fingertips, and other tests and she seemed to do them fine. she was just a bit out but the doc wasn't that concerned.  then they checked her eyes/pupils.  it resulted that she has the beginning of cataracts but very small still, doc told us not to be concerned about them for now.  cause of the cataracts they could not really see any pressure behind the eye.  the doc told  me that when there is pressure it is usually in both eyes but on the good eye there was no pressure so things seemed to be ok too. they checked her urine to see if the fever was due to an infection  but that was all clear too. anyway, she was discharged a few hours later cause her fever went down and she felt much better.  the conclusion was that it was a slight gastritis plus tension build up caused by the pending operation. since sunday she has now calmed down a bit knowing the tests that they performed on her found nothing extraordinary.  we are praying so much for her that all will go well. she leaves on sunday, so please say a prayer for her. while we were at hospital I was speaking to a nurse who told me that a cousin of hers had a very large AN and it was removed in London by laser.  this was 5 years ago so i imagine that technology has advanced a bit more since that time.  i was suprised to hear this as i thought that large AN were only removed by surgery.
thanks all for all the posts saying to keep up our courage and hope.  you are a great group of people.
take care
claire

[Jim Scott]

Hi, Claire:

I'm sorry your mum had to go through that.  The mental/emotional stress prior to AN surgery can be very difficult for some folks.  I trust that, as you mentioned, since your mother now realizes she is basically in good health, she'll be somewhat calmer.  I hope so, for your sake and hers. Remind her that she doesn't have cancer and her AN can be removed.  While microsurgery is complicated, some surgeons now remove only enough tumor to spare the facial/cranial nerves and radiate the remaining tumor. I had this procedure and, as you know, it worked out rather well.  I certainly couldn't guarantee anyone else's outcome but it seems a safer way to go than trusting micosurgery, alone, to 'get it all' with no post-op complications. Something you and your mum might want to consider, if it's not too late. 

By the way, I had a cataract removed eight years ago. A new, synthetic lens replaced it   A relatively simple operation (performed in an out-patient eye clinic) and my vision in the affected eye is now 20/20!  I'm almost anxious to have the lens in my other eye replaced so I can throw away my glasses for good.  Pass that information on to your mum, it might cheer her up a bit. 

Try to stay strong, Claire.   

Jim

[Obita]

Hi Claire:

Sorry about your Mum's little bump in the road.  I am very glad all is well.

Please keep us posted.

Kathy

[Ellenmn]

Best of Luck on the trip to the hospital and I'll keep you all in my prayers for the surgery to go well.