Sorry, this is long...
My 69 year old mum is in hospital on a neuro ward with symptoms nobody can explain at the moment (we're waiting on loads of blood test results). It started three months ago when her mouth drooped on one side, and on the same side of her face her eyelid started closing. She couldn't keep that eye open at all. She refused to go to hospital and in her words she "doesn't 'do' ill".
I didn't know this until two weeks later when she came to visit and immediately we packed her off to A&E fearing she'd had a stroke. They did a CT scan and sent her away once they'd ruled out a stroke. Days later, her other eye started to close and she started having difficulty speaking in the evenings.
Since then, she's got weaker and weaker, to the point where a ride in the car tires her out so much she has to rest for the remainder of the day. This isn't like my mum at all - she's usually gardening, cooking, sewing and the like.
She finally had an appointment with a neurologist last week and they admitted her immediately as her symptoms are so alarming. Both her eyes are closed most of the time, she's tired, weak, and needing help with everything. I fear for my lovely mum's health and her future.
One thing they're trying to either diagnose or rule out is Myasthenia Gravis. For those who don't know, it's an autoimmnune condition which manifests in the symptoms she is displaying. People with the condition can have "myasthenic crises" whereby they become so weak they stop breathing and have to go on a ventilator. I have nightmares about this (this time four years ago I was in an induced coma and on a ventilator for five weeks and have PTSD, partly as a result of the nightmares I had at the time that I couldn't wake up from). I'm scared my mum will deteriorate further and not get better. Equally I'm scared it's something else (no idea what) that'll cause these symptoms to be permanent. I don't know what treatment she needs, if any exists etc.
I'm shocked and horrified at how much she's gone downhill since I last saw her in September.
Hand hold please, or anything remotely comforting would be appreciated.