week from hell so far
To say this week has been stressful would be an understatement.....
My new days off are Sunday and Monday now since I took the new position at work. Last Monday morning I went downstairs to get breakfast and mom said that she was having trouble breathing. Mom isn't one to complain about anything. When she does say something you take it seriously. Her voice was very raspy and she really could barely breathe. I told her to sit down and take it easy. I grabbed something to eat and went back upstairs and called her Dr. I was told to wait an hour or so and if it persisted to take her to the hospital and they would do a chest x-ray and see what was going on. I went back down to talk to mom and check on her. She said that it had actually started the day before on Sunday but that I was busy in the garden and she didn't want to bother me. "mom get dressed I'm taking you to the hospital". I ran upstairs and threw on clothes and got the truck out of the garage. When I made it back into the house she was dressed but literally couldn't breathe. I called 911 and summoned an ambulance who took her to the ER at St Louis University Hospital. That was around 9 am. I didn't make it home from the hospital that night until about 9 pm. Her BP was around 225 over 150 (she's on bp meds). Her heart wasn't functioned and fluid was building up in her lungs (the cardiologist told me today that she was having corinary failure when I brought her in). They began administering various drugs and drips and stated that she was going to be moved into ICU. By the time they finally got a bed for her in ICU she had improved enough that they decided to move her to the cardiac wing instead. I got her into her room and left for the night to get some sleep myself.
Tuesday I went to work and didn't hear from the hospital so I figured no news was good news. I got to the hospital after work to see her and I walked into her room to find no mom and no bed. Apparently she decided that she was going home after her echo heart test and began removing IV's and started getting up and walking around. She was moved into a room with 4 people in it along with a nurse that was always in the room. This room was also right across from the nurse's station in case there was a problem multiple nurses could be in the room in a matter of seconds. Mom was less than thrilled at this to say the least. I was told that they were still doing evaluations and testing and that she would probably be going home on Thursday.
Wednesday, today.... I get a call from the cardiologist and finally manage to get to speak with her after several attempts. "Shes's going to be discharged today" "ok so she's doing better then" " well we're sending her home with oxygen, more meds, a walker, home physical therapy and a home nurse service will be coming by three times a week to check on her. The evaluation states that she needs to be placed into long term care but she refused and said that you take very good care of her and that you're capable of still taking care of her. Right now she is still able to make her own discisions." "Ummmm.... ok" I get to the hospital tonight and she can't even make heads or tails of where she is. It took almost 45 mins for her to come around to know who I was or that I was even there. JUST HOW IN THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO GO TO WORK AND LEAVE MOM AT HOME!!!! I was actually surprised that security wasn't called on me at that point. A flurry of phone calls ensued as I paced up and down the hall speaking very loudly and clearly that I was going to sue the hospital if anything happened to mom. I finally managed to get the resident Dr on duty to show up and talk to me (for 90 minutes). He then called the social worker who was assigned to mom to assist in getting things like the home nurse and home oxygen taken care of.
All I wanted was mom to be placed into short term care to get her strength back up and be able to get her routine down since I'm not home enough. Not to mention if she fell when I wasn't at home again. Another reason for it is due to my surgery that I have scheduled for next Wednesday. If she did fall I couldn't even help her up. Since the diagnosis was for long term care and not for short term rehab care I was given two choices. Talk mom into going into long term care or taking her home the way she was. Thank god for my friend Laine who does nursing home placement for a living. I talked to him more than once today and he was able to give me some options and tell me what to tell the Dr's. It was decided and mom agreed to being placed into a long term care facility. I told her when the dr's weren't around that it was going to be until I got through my surgery and was healed enough that if something happened I could deal with it. She was also told that it was conditional on her getting strong enough to be able to manage when I'm not home and that we would evaluate the situation together in a couple of months. I'm hoping that she'll get into the facility and make some friends and become more active and actually like it there and want to stay. If she doesn't then I'll cross that bridge when it comes down to it.
I called and texted various people at work and told them that I was taking a family medical emergency day tomorrow. The morning will be me touring various facilities and talking to the social worker and getting things set up for mom. Tomorrow is not going to be a fun or enjoyable day whatsoever. I've been dreading this day for a while now but knew that it was coming. I actually started talking to Laine about this last fall. Mom turns 86 in 30 days. The past few months she always keeps saying how she's the last one. Pretty much everyone that mom knows is dead at this point. She has one friend in CA that's still alive and a cousin out in Seattle. In general her family lives into their late 80's to early 90's. She's always been a fighter but I've been getting the feeling more and more that she's giving up. I have a feeling that the end isn't to far off.
And that's been my past 72 hours..... How you doin?
My new days off are Sunday and Monday now since I took the new position at work. Last Monday morning I went downstairs to get breakfast and mom said that she was having trouble breathing. Mom isn't one to complain about anything. When she does say something you take it seriously. Her voice was very raspy and she really could barely breathe. I told her to sit down and take it easy. I grabbed something to eat and went back upstairs and called her Dr. I was told to wait an hour or so and if it persisted to take her to the hospital and they would do a chest x-ray and see what was going on. I went back down to talk to mom and check on her. She said that it had actually started the day before on Sunday but that I was busy in the garden and she didn't want to bother me. "mom get dressed I'm taking you to the hospital". I ran upstairs and threw on clothes and got the truck out of the garage. When I made it back into the house she was dressed but literally couldn't breathe. I called 911 and summoned an ambulance who took her to the ER at St Louis University Hospital. That was around 9 am. I didn't make it home from the hospital that night until about 9 pm. Her BP was around 225 over 150 (she's on bp meds). Her heart wasn't functioned and fluid was building up in her lungs (the cardiologist told me today that she was having corinary failure when I brought her in). They began administering various drugs and drips and stated that she was going to be moved into ICU. By the time they finally got a bed for her in ICU she had improved enough that they decided to move her to the cardiac wing instead. I got her into her room and left for the night to get some sleep myself.
Tuesday I went to work and didn't hear from the hospital so I figured no news was good news. I got to the hospital after work to see her and I walked into her room to find no mom and no bed. Apparently she decided that she was going home after her echo heart test and began removing IV's and started getting up and walking around. She was moved into a room with 4 people in it along with a nurse that was always in the room. This room was also right across from the nurse's station in case there was a problem multiple nurses could be in the room in a matter of seconds. Mom was less than thrilled at this to say the least. I was told that they were still doing evaluations and testing and that she would probably be going home on Thursday.
Wednesday, today.... I get a call from the cardiologist and finally manage to get to speak with her after several attempts. "Shes's going to be discharged today" "ok so she's doing better then" " well we're sending her home with oxygen, more meds, a walker, home physical therapy and a home nurse service will be coming by three times a week to check on her. The evaluation states that she needs to be placed into long term care but she refused and said that you take very good care of her and that you're capable of still taking care of her. Right now she is still able to make her own discisions." "Ummmm.... ok" I get to the hospital tonight and she can't even make heads or tails of where she is. It took almost 45 mins for her to come around to know who I was or that I was even there. JUST HOW IN THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO GO TO WORK AND LEAVE MOM AT HOME!!!! I was actually surprised that security wasn't called on me at that point. A flurry of phone calls ensued as I paced up and down the hall speaking very loudly and clearly that I was going to sue the hospital if anything happened to mom. I finally managed to get the resident Dr on duty to show up and talk to me (for 90 minutes). He then called the social worker who was assigned to mom to assist in getting things like the home nurse and home oxygen taken care of.
All I wanted was mom to be placed into short term care to get her strength back up and be able to get her routine down since I'm not home enough. Not to mention if she fell when I wasn't at home again. Another reason for it is due to my surgery that I have scheduled for next Wednesday. If she did fall I couldn't even help her up. Since the diagnosis was for long term care and not for short term rehab care I was given two choices. Talk mom into going into long term care or taking her home the way she was. Thank god for my friend Laine who does nursing home placement for a living. I talked to him more than once today and he was able to give me some options and tell me what to tell the Dr's. It was decided and mom agreed to being placed into a long term care facility. I told her when the dr's weren't around that it was going to be until I got through my surgery and was healed enough that if something happened I could deal with it. She was also told that it was conditional on her getting strong enough to be able to manage when I'm not home and that we would evaluate the situation together in a couple of months. I'm hoping that she'll get into the facility and make some friends and become more active and actually like it there and want to stay. If she doesn't then I'll cross that bridge when it comes down to it.
I called and texted various people at work and told them that I was taking a family medical emergency day tomorrow. The morning will be me touring various facilities and talking to the social worker and getting things set up for mom. Tomorrow is not going to be a fun or enjoyable day whatsoever. I've been dreading this day for a while now but knew that it was coming. I actually started talking to Laine about this last fall. Mom turns 86 in 30 days. The past few months she always keeps saying how she's the last one. Pretty much everyone that mom knows is dead at this point. She has one friend in CA that's still alive and a cousin out in Seattle. In general her family lives into their late 80's to early 90's. She's always been a fighter but I've been getting the feeling more and more that she's giving up. I have a feeling that the end isn't to far off.
And that's been my past 72 hours..... How you doin?