As many of you know, my mother has had some health problems
over the last several years. In fact, I
think the only time I blog is when I need to update people about moms
condition. Well, about a month ago, my
mom saw a nephrologist in Blanding, and he told her he was concerned about her
liver. So they ran tests, and of course
they never called mom to give her the results.
I apologize to any that may read this that are big fans of UNHS’ nursing
staff at the Blanding clinic; my opinion of them is not very high. She was also told to make an appointment with
a GI doc in St. George. Shortly after
the nephrology appointment her legs started to swell again and turned beet
red. She canceled her first appointment
with Dr. Perino (the GI doc) and decided to reschedule at a time that she could
see Dr. Assiago (the amazing nephrologist that saved her life before).
But as her health became worse, we all became more concerned
that she needed to get here sooner.
Finally, I called Grandma Palmer and asked her to have one of my cousins
who is an RN go check her vitals (and I can not thank Sunny enough for doing
so). Her blood pressure was really high
so Sunny asked her to come to the hospital the next day and have her BP taken
again. When mom went to the hospital the
next day, Sunny took her blood pressure and went over and got my mom’s primary
care doctor to come take a look at her.
It was determined that she needed to drive to St. George immediately and
go to the ER where they would be better equipped to help her. So mom and dad went home and for the first
time in nearly 19 years made the decision to not publish a newspaper that week,
or in the weeks to come until they knew what was going on. They loaded up the car and drove to St.
George.
Since the most recent edition of the Panorama was published,
my parents have been to the ER on St. George, told there was nothing wrong with
my mom, sent back to Cedar, sent back to St. George for an appointment with a
different doctor than she normally sees, told there was nothing wrong with her,
sent back to Cedar. Finally, she was
able to see Dr. Perino and Dr. Assiago, and they both agreed that there was
definitely something wrong with her. They
did a biopsy on her liver, and ran more tests.
One of the tests came back positive for ANCA vasulitis
(according to Dr. Assiago, this test NEVER comes back positive). Dr. Assiago is referring her to the
Vasculitis center at the University of Utah to hopefully find a treatment plan
to help her regain some health. However,
he told her that although she may be able to go back to work eventually, she
will never be able to do a job that requires her to be meticulous again. She is scheduled to go to the U on December
17 (hopefully sooner if there are cancelations). We will hopefully have the results of the
liver biopsy back this week. Mom is
doing ok, but it’s a lot to take in, especially if the liver biopsy comes back
really negative. It’s hard to accept
that you can’t keep doing what you love to do; in mom’s case she loves to
work.
Now, while all of this was going on, Cameron and I convinced
my dad to get a second opinion on his back.
Our bishop’s daughter is a PA for Dr. Reichmann in Provo, so we sent her
dad’s MRI and she called the day she looked at them and told him that he
absolutely needed surgery and that they wanted to get him in before
Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for
that. It has been very difficult for dad
to do anything because he never knows when his legs will go numb. He will be meeting with them in a week and
hopefully he will have surgery in the next couple of weeks.
It has been an extremely difficult month to say the
least. There is so much that we still
don’t, and won’t know for the next month or so.
The most pressing concern has been what is going to happen to the
paper. Mom would like to try to keep it
going for a while, just until they can pay off some of the medical bills, but
dad would love to walk away and get closer to his family in Vegas and good medical
care. I think it is hard for all of us
to think about walking away from a business that has been such a huge part of
our lives.
When I was in high school, a column ran in the Salt Lake
Tribune by Robert Kirby about all the reasons his daughter thought it sucked to
be Robert Kirby’s daughter. I could
relate to everything that she said. It
was rough to be a newspaper mans daughter while I was in high school. Although I can’t recall all of the reasons
that she listed, I remember that I could empathize with each and every one of
them.That being said, I in no way thought it sucked
to be a newspaper mans daughter.
Sure it was a little embarrassing to have my dad be
everywhere all the time, but that was the job, and I understood that. As I have gotten older and gone into the
“real world” I have come to the realization that my parents are absolutely
incredible. Most Newspapers have a full
staff of writers, photographers, salespeople, and designers; the Panorama has
always had a staff of two and some amazing community members that have been
willing to write columns and news stories for us.
Now Dad will try to tell you that my Mom is the backbone of
the paper, but I believe that my Dad doesn’t give himself enough credit. But we all see and know how hard he works, and in my opinion he is superman.
I have watched him for 18 years as he has covered the news
for this community, and for 18 years he has put this community before
everything. Covering the news came
before friends, family and often times health.
He has done everything in his power to make sure that every event was
covered, that every sporting event had pictures and that every opinion has been
heard. We had never missed a deadline,
until October 2012.
The next month or so will be interesting. As we try to sort out what is going on with
the paper and my parents health, I would just like to thank all those that have
shown concern for my parents. It’s nice
to know that people care. Please be
patient as we sort this all out. Thank
your for your prayers and support.
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