Four Months

"How long has she had trouble breathing?"

"Four months." 

"No, I mean how long has she had the breathing problems?"

"Four months."

"No. How long has this acute breathing problem been an issue?"

"Four months. She has been examined by six physicians, five specialists, trying to find out why she couldn't breathe."

"Who?"

"I don't have the names, but I do have a list of the types of doctors she has seen in the last four months." I pulled up on my phone the record my sister had given me. "She has seen a Gastrointestinal doctor, a Cardiologist, a Hematologist, a Neurologist, and a Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist."

He turned away and looked at me no more.

This conversation (I use the term loosely) took place this very morning at the Greenwood Leflore Hospital between me and a physician attending to my mom.
The look on his face said he either did not believe me or did not want to hear what I had to say. I was nice, mind you. I spoke matter-of-factly. But he is the one who asked the question; I answered politely but truthfully. Maybe he was embarrassed. I am guessing anyone on the street could be given Mom's symptoms and immediately make a correct diagnosis so it is hard to figure how something like this could have happened.

It's my sister who wouldn't give up. She is the one who kept making appointments who kept pressing the issue who somehow (don't ask) managed to secure a simple chest X-ray that you would thing would have been done four months ago. Bingo, there it was and it wasn't socket rience, not complicated at all.

I am not writing this to bash anyone. Please, don't misunderstand my point. I am writing this to encourage you to always fight for the ones you love. This is at least the second time my sister has saved my mother's life. I had given up. I accepted the line that it was "global decline" and this was the new normal for her, for us. But Carol Terrell kept insisting that this had come upon mother all at once and someone should be able to tell us why Mom was struggling to breathe. My sister not only observes, but she makes notes, she writes things down, and she has a written record of Mom's ups and downs and changes and doctors' appointments and what was said. Remember these simple things. Make notes, ask questions, and be persistent. It could save the life of someone you love.