Another uneventful Sunday was planned by a friend of mine. She was to meet Sophie, her 90-year-old mother-in-law, at church for the Sunday service. But this Sunday didn’t go as planned. Sophie arrived late and found her daughter-in-law already in the pew. The church service began with the call to prayer and as the congregation stood, Sophie collapsed in the pew.
911 was called, the paramedics arrived and Sophie was taken to the hospital. A decision was made to keep Sophie overnight in the hospital for observation and further tests. At the hospital, the daughter-in-law discovered that although she thought her cell phone was up to date on all the family’s contacts, it wasn’t. A call was placed to a family member to locate other family members and the healthcare proxy.
The grandson arrived at the hospital, then one daughter, then much later a second daughter (the health care proxy). In the interim, the daughter-in-law is asked a number of questions about Sophie’s health status. The daughter-in-law couldn’t answer most of the questions.
In the course of this hospitalization they learned that daughter #1 takes Sophie to her general practitioner, daughter #2 takes Sophie to her nephrologist. Daughters are often mad at each other and don’t always communicate with each other.
To be continued…