Cellulitis and Living in the Present

Last week my mother was rushed to the emergency room on orders from her doctor. She went in for her routine yearly checkup and this time I decided to go along with her. Normally she would tell me what was going on, if she needed a change a medication, or if she's been doing well and her doctor took her off some meds. Like I said, just a routine check.

Here is a little history of my mother. She has always had a problem with her weight and on both sides of the family, there is a problem with high blood pressure and diabetes so her struggle was finding a tasty balance and still being able to control weight, BP, and diabetes. Having been a teacher for many years she is a smart and savvy woman but like everyone else, she had stresses in life; a broken marriage, a single mother, migrating to the US to create a better life, keeping her problems inside just to see a smile on my face among many others. I hadn't known of the severity of her problems until I became mature enough to understand, and only then she gave me little peaks into her highly stressful life. I felt like it was my mom and I against the entire world.

Don't get me wrong, she was still a very fashion-forward, always dressed to impress, beautiful woman who always knew what to say and when to say it. Through all her stresses in life she always seemed to find a way to make a joke and laugh when everyone was watching. Regardless of her troubles, she found ways to be happy.

Let's get back to the hospital drama. During the physical she complained about a pain she was having in he calf for about one week. The area was tender to touch, very painful, and flaming red, and heated; when her doctor looked at it she became very concerned. She consulted with her senior and made the decision to send my mama to emergency care. She was put in a pink wheelchair called E-B3AST and transported to emergency care. There she was placed on a bed where Blood Pressure was taken and blood was drawn for testing. A kind PA came over and asked questions to evaluate the severity of the problem. On examination she immediately said my mom would need antibiotics for the redness and infection. She was then moved to a cozy little spot in emergency in the midst of wailing and cussing patients. I was tasked with running from building to building filling out paperwork, collecting Rx and bringing food while my mama was waited on. Imagine my stress level. The doctor had to rule out a blood clot so she was sent to get a sonogram on the whole leg. I made sure I was foot to foot with her as they took blood to run tests, I stood by her as the doctor took sonogram pictures (pretending I knew what I was going on). I must say all her doctors were all very kind and informative every step of the way. After she got hooked up to antibiotics and electrolytes some of the redness began to subside.

About two hours after ruling out a blood clot, the doctors said the cause of the redness, pain, and swelling was a condition called cellulitis. The cause of this condition is when bacteria, most commonly Streptococcus and Staphylococcus, enters a breakage in the skin. The doctor said sometimes it could also be the bacteria which lives on our skin. In my mom's case it could have been caused by a tiny scratch on her calf. Knowing this was such a relief for both of us. We knew that it could be treated and there was nothing to worry about. She ended up having to stay overnight in the hospital for observation where we were treated the yummy hospital food :-/ All in all, we learned so much more about how the body changes as we age and how to best be careful. When it was all over, in the car ride home my mom and I made a plan to visit some pretty interesting places as the summer rolls in.

Here are some tips on how to better care for your body as you get older:

1. Remember you are BEAUTIFUL no matter what.
2. Do not let the fear of falling ill to infection stop you from doing things that make you happy. Sometimes these things happen in the safety of your own home. Go out and LIVE.
3. Say yes to happiness every minute of every day.
4. Your family will always be your family so love them.
5. Eat something satisfying, just don't overeat it. Satisfying food tends to kill us :-)
6. Doctors don't know everything so ask you doctor EACH and EVERY question. If they don't have the answer, they will find it.
7. LOVE, love, and then some.

I am great believer of staying positive in the worst of times. I hope this experience sheds some light for you. Stay happy.