It's been a shitty couple of weeks.
About a week after my parents left for Calgary, ostensibly to return in August, my Grandmother was admitted to hospital for a severe GI tract issue. Apparently my Aunt took her on Monday night (Jul 2). We didn't learn about this until Wednesday.
Late that night, my Mom called and told me about the situation - as little as we knew of it at the time - and said she had booked a flight and would be back by about noon. I picked her up the next day and we made our way to Rouge Valley Health/Centennial and found that my Grandmother had been kept in Observation for the past two days. She'd been required to fast and purge, and was just coming back from a colonoscopy to get some indication of what was wrong.
A couple hours later, she was finally given a semi-private room upstairs. She did eventually get a roommate but as far as we know things were uneventful. (Noted for a particular reason as we'll see later in this post)
The next afternoon, we were informed by the gastroenterologist that my Grandmother has diverticulosis, which means weaker parts of your intestine get pushed outward and grow in to tiny pouches. This isn't uncommon - 10% of Americans over 40 have this and 60% of people over 60. But the problem is they also present difficulties because they can become inflamed, bleed or get punctured, and this was the cause of my Grandmother's problems.
Unrelated to the bleed, as a result of the colonoscopy, we also found out she has a 5cm large benign patch of polyps which have an extremely high probability of becoming malignant at some point.
She was taken off baby Aspirin - which she takes to help her heart - to help healing to occur around the intestinal bleed, and sent home that night (Thursday).
By the next evening, she was eating and we joined her for dinner along with my Mom's sister (and her husband) as well as my Mom's brother (and his wife), who had driven up on Thursday from Chicago. All seemed well; my Grandmother was feeling more energetic and eating pretty much normally.
Everything seemed fine for much of the next day - I had personal plans and wanted to spend some time alone, so I declined to join them for dinner that night.
Late that night, I got a call at home from Mom saying they had convinced my Grandmother to go back to hospital. She had been experiencing some severe abdominal pain and for a while had insisted she did not want to die in hospital.
She was admitted around 2 or 3AM on Sunday morning. The next morning, my Mother called from the hospital to say I should make my way there quickly. By this time my Grandmother was very weak and asking to say what possibly might be her last words to her immediate family. My Aunts and Uncles were all there and my cousins came in later in the day. Dad flew in from Calgary and after picking him up from Pearson, we headed straight back to Centennial to be with her.
The night before, initially it was thought she might have a urinary tract infection, but later we learned it probably wasn't. She was given painkillers and was put on a drip of Heparin to return some anti-coagulants to her system. It's possible her complications had to do with the sudden drop of blood-thinners in her system but we don't know for sure yet. The Heparin seemed to help but she had lingering pain in her abdomen.
I should stop here and note that Observation is just another room in the Emergency ward that has 8-10 beds, divided from each other by curtains.
While the first time my Grandmother was admitted wasn't a walk in the park by any means, the second time was made considerably worse by the fact that the person on the next bed over was clearly not in control of her mental faculties and often loudly and hoarsely spouted random words at great length. My Aunt, who grew up in India, says it was Urdu - and after spending the first or second night, said the woman would variably either be counting or insisting to kill.
All of this could very easily be heard unmuffled through the curtains and took place day or night. To the casual reader, this might seem like very little to complain about? But consider being on the brink of death and having your rest & recovery perpetually being disturbed by someone screaming at the top of their lungs?
This person was neither admitted to a room nor released during that two day period, so by the time the hospital finally allowed my Grandmother to be moved to a semi-private room, we were much relieved.
That was short lived.
Hospital staff proceeded to place the neighbor from Observation in the same room. By this time it was glaringly obvious my Grandmother, who is 88, felt she could not spend more time next to this individual. She was upset to the point of tears, insisting she would rather go home and die than put up with more.
My Mother, Aunt and Uncle, along with my cousin's husband went to see how this could be changed and fortunately she was moved to another room, but of course there is never any way of predicting who will be sharing the room with you.
Mom accompanied my Grandma on Tuesday night and already by that point found the woman they shared the room with was no better. That night, the new roommate tore out her IV, got out of bed, urinated on the floor and insisted my Mother help her escape.
After spending some time getting some much needed sleep the next day, my Mom went back to the hospital to see how things were going, since she'd been relieved by my Aunt in the morning. She decided to stay another night because my Aunt is herself not feeling well and needed rest.
Last night, the other patient again got out of her bed, urinated in the room several times, harassed my Grandmother, shut herself in the locker set aside for her personal effects and urinated there as well.
Today, neither my Grandmother and Mom have gotten any sleep. Hearing about this from them over the phone it's almost beyond belief that it could happen, but having seen how jaded some of the hospital staff are and have reacted to even simple polite requests for water and mouth sponges, it's not surprising.
We're waiting to hear the results of an MRI conducted this morning. A CT scan earlier yesterday was somewhat inconclusive - they did say they saw an enlarged gallbladder, but couldn't say for sure what the problem was.
We do really hope she can be released tonight. Whether that's the case or she stays another night, I'll be spending the night with her, since my Aunt still isn't feeling well.
I'll say this - i'm getting to understand why one might prefer to die at home than to tough out illness in the care of a hospital.
Late that night, my Mom called and told me about the situation - as little as we knew of it at the time - and said she had booked a flight and would be back by about noon. I picked her up the next day and we made our way to Rouge Valley Health/Centennial and found that my Grandmother had been kept in Observation for the past two days. She'd been required to fast and purge, and was just coming back from a colonoscopy to get some indication of what was wrong.
A couple hours later, she was finally given a semi-private room upstairs. She did eventually get a roommate but as far as we know things were uneventful. (Noted for a particular reason as we'll see later in this post)
The next afternoon, we were informed by the gastroenterologist that my Grandmother has diverticulosis, which means weaker parts of your intestine get pushed outward and grow in to tiny pouches. This isn't uncommon - 10% of Americans over 40 have this and 60% of people over 60. But the problem is they also present difficulties because they can become inflamed, bleed or get punctured, and this was the cause of my Grandmother's problems.
Unrelated to the bleed, as a result of the colonoscopy, we also found out she has a 5cm large benign patch of polyps which have an extremely high probability of becoming malignant at some point.
She was taken off baby Aspirin - which she takes to help her heart - to help healing to occur around the intestinal bleed, and sent home that night (Thursday).
By the next evening, she was eating and we joined her for dinner along with my Mom's sister (and her husband) as well as my Mom's brother (and his wife), who had driven up on Thursday from Chicago. All seemed well; my Grandmother was feeling more energetic and eating pretty much normally.
Everything seemed fine for much of the next day - I had personal plans and wanted to spend some time alone, so I declined to join them for dinner that night.
Late that night, I got a call at home from Mom saying they had convinced my Grandmother to go back to hospital. She had been experiencing some severe abdominal pain and for a while had insisted she did not want to die in hospital.
She was admitted around 2 or 3AM on Sunday morning. The next morning, my Mother called from the hospital to say I should make my way there quickly. By this time my Grandmother was very weak and asking to say what possibly might be her last words to her immediate family. My Aunts and Uncles were all there and my cousins came in later in the day. Dad flew in from Calgary and after picking him up from Pearson, we headed straight back to Centennial to be with her.
The night before, initially it was thought she might have a urinary tract infection, but later we learned it probably wasn't. She was given painkillers and was put on a drip of Heparin to return some anti-coagulants to her system. It's possible her complications had to do with the sudden drop of blood-thinners in her system but we don't know for sure yet. The Heparin seemed to help but she had lingering pain in her abdomen.
I should stop here and note that Observation is just another room in the Emergency ward that has 8-10 beds, divided from each other by curtains.
While the first time my Grandmother was admitted wasn't a walk in the park by any means, the second time was made considerably worse by the fact that the person on the next bed over was clearly not in control of her mental faculties and often loudly and hoarsely spouted random words at great length. My Aunt, who grew up in India, says it was Urdu - and after spending the first or second night, said the woman would variably either be counting or insisting to kill.
All of this could very easily be heard unmuffled through the curtains and took place day or night. To the casual reader, this might seem like very little to complain about? But consider being on the brink of death and having your rest & recovery perpetually being disturbed by someone screaming at the top of their lungs?
This person was neither admitted to a room nor released during that two day period, so by the time the hospital finally allowed my Grandmother to be moved to a semi-private room, we were much relieved.
That was short lived.
Hospital staff proceeded to place the neighbor from Observation in the same room. By this time it was glaringly obvious my Grandmother, who is 88, felt she could not spend more time next to this individual. She was upset to the point of tears, insisting she would rather go home and die than put up with more.
My Mother, Aunt and Uncle, along with my cousin's husband went to see how this could be changed and fortunately she was moved to another room, but of course there is never any way of predicting who will be sharing the room with you.
Mom accompanied my Grandma on Tuesday night and already by that point found the woman they shared the room with was no better. That night, the new roommate tore out her IV, got out of bed, urinated on the floor and insisted my Mother help her escape.
After spending some time getting some much needed sleep the next day, my Mom went back to the hospital to see how things were going, since she'd been relieved by my Aunt in the morning. She decided to stay another night because my Aunt is herself not feeling well and needed rest.
Last night, the other patient again got out of her bed, urinated in the room several times, harassed my Grandmother, shut herself in the locker set aside for her personal effects and urinated there as well.
Today, neither my Grandmother and Mom have gotten any sleep. Hearing about this from them over the phone it's almost beyond belief that it could happen, but having seen how jaded some of the hospital staff are and have reacted to even simple polite requests for water and mouth sponges, it's not surprising.
We're waiting to hear the results of an MRI conducted this morning. A CT scan earlier yesterday was somewhat inconclusive - they did say they saw an enlarged gallbladder, but couldn't say for sure what the problem was.
We do really hope she can be released tonight. Whether that's the case or she stays another night, I'll be spending the night with her, since my Aunt still isn't feeling well.
I'll say this - i'm getting to understand why one might prefer to die at home than to tough out illness in the care of a hospital.