Dec 4 - Driving!

Sorry for not updating the blog for so long, that's because Mom is doing so well! In fact, she's driving now!

Oct 22 - Still home!

Mom would have come home earlier but she contracted C-Diff (sp?) in the hospital. She bullied the doctor into sending her home because the symptoms had mitigated. The problem is that C-Diff has resurfaced (or probably never went away, the symptoms were just masked from the meds). I'm not sure what to do about her because there is no way that she wants to go back to the hospital but I'm afraid if we let her stay home that she won't just go back to the hospital, she may end up in ICU again. She also developed a urinary track infection. She has drugs for both conditions along with something for nausea. She hasn't been eating for a few days because she can't keep anything down.

I hear imaginary sirens going off.

The problem is that Mom doesn't pay attention to her symptoms very well and if the nurse who visits her twice a week doesn't specifically ask about something that is wrong, the nurse may not get the whole story. Dad is no help in this regard, either. The nurse accidentally discovered Mom was urinating all the time which led to the discovery of the urinary track infection, thank God! She would have ended up back in ICU for sure if that went unchecked.

I feel like my parents think that Mom's out of the woods just because she's sick at home and not in the hospital. I'm to the point of being a complete nag but it doesn't seem to be doing any good. Luckily, my cousin, Kim, who lives near them is an RN and checks my Mom on a regular basis. Kim works for the same company who sends Mom's home care nurse so Kim is working behind the scenes to keep Mom as safe as possible.

The problem with going back to the hospital besides the obvious -- Mom doesn't want to go back -- is that you get sick when you're in the hospital. That's how she got C-Diff and all the other bugs (MERCER, pneumonia, and more).

Oct 8 - HOME!

Mom was released from Select hospital today to go home! She was supposed to go home last Friday but she managed to pick up a hospital acquired flu like cold that made her a little weak. The doc wasn't all too keen on Mom going home today but she put her foot down. She was ready to go home!

Dave, my husband, and I helped her get home. She's doing well. She can maneuver from room to room without incident. They have a walk in shower with a built-in seat so she's all set.

I checked in with her later in the day. She was exhausted. What she accomplished in an 8x8' room in the hospital, she is now accomplishing in a large ranch house so she's having to walk a lot more than in the hospital. As long as she doesn't push herself too hard, I think it's great that she's having to work a little harder... we just need to make sure that Dad doesn't try to help her too much so that he gets worn out, too.

The family will be taking meals to her. A few people have suggested Meals on Wheels. I know that Mom would make sure that I had meals so until it gets too hard to take her meals, we'll skip Meals on Wheels. But, never say never.

So, let's pray and cross our fingers that she continues to move towards full recovery. What we don't want is for her to wind up back in the hospital. And, if she does, this time I'll probably take her to Ann Arbor UM Hospital ER. We might as well get her in the best hospital and skip the Flint hospitals -- we were all far from happy with them. Although, I have to say, Select was a great "sub-hospital". The problem is that I believe you need a referral from another hospital to be admitted there -- I could be wrong on that point.

Cheers!

Sept 20 - Select

They're talking about removing the vent from Mom's room! She walked down the hall with a walker! Things are definitely moving in the right direction. Not to be a pessimist but let's not get our hopes up too high based on the fact that history repeats itself. Pray that there are no more back steps in her recovery this time.

I continue to be impressed with the quality of care and staff at Select, a hospital within a hospital, located within Hurley Hospital.

I can't help but wonder what the next step will be in her recovery process.

Sept 17 - Select

A lot has happened since I was preparing to go on vacation last week. When I left, Hurley was asking me what I wanted to do with Mom since she was having trouble getting off the vent: send her home for Dad to take care of her or put her in a home. She had just stopped having temps and they were again questioning the strength of her heart.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I returned. Mom had a heart catheter (a scope, really) that showed that her heart is strong with minor artery blockages -- nothing for concern. She was moved to Select, a hospital within a hospital. She's now in room 1170. Select has a slower paced rehab center and specializes in working with patients on or just off of the vent.

Select seems to me to be far superior to Hurley. The staff is much more attentive, professional, and caring. So far, communication is much, much better, too!

They changed her trech yesterday to a smaller one with a valve on it so she can again talk! They were talking about testing her swallow reflexes today to see if she'd be able to start eating food again and get that dang feeding tube out of her mouth. We decided that if she couldn't, she'd switch to the direct-to-stomach feeding tube since she's sick and tired of that tube up her nose. The popular belief is that stomach tubes aren't permanent like some people think.

Well, that's all for now. I'm happy not to have a litany of information to have to report because when that's the case it's all bad!

Sept 4 - Hurley ICU

We now have Mom under the care of Dr. Peddyreddy, Dad's doctor. Part of my problem with Hurley is that the docs won't communicate with me, period. They may be good at what they do but I could have no way of knowing that without any communication.

Dr. Amlani, Dad's heart doc who gave a second opinion on Mom's heart condition, really stepped up to the plate. He listened to my "customer service" concerns, suggested Dr. Peddyreddy take over as primary, called Dr. Peddyreddy's office for us, and wham! someone from Dr P's office visited Mom that day! I think Dr. A put it best... to the staff docs at Hurley, Mom is just a patient that moved to their department from PT. Since Mom's doc (Dr. Kinra) hasn't shown any interest in her coupled with the fact that she has a new nurse everyday, Mom never really had a medical advocate. (Dr. Kinra never bothered to follow Mom once she left McLaren. That is a generous statement since Dr. Kinra didn't really follow her in McLaren, either. She'd call me for updates!) Dr. P's office has visited Mom everyday since. Dr. P is out of the country but will return to make the visits himself next week, I think.

I visited Mom last Fri, Sat, and Sun. She was doing pretty much the same on those days. She's on a diuretic to keep her fluids down which has helped her heart. Her heart is testing fine except the one level that keeps track of inflammation was showing as too high so this diuretic has helped with that. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if this is a temporary condition or something we need to be concerned with over the long run. This heart inflammation could be making it difficult for Mom to ween off the vent.

Mom hasn't had a temp in days.

Mom's having trouble weening off the vent. The mode that normally was no big deal for her when she was stable and all the planets were aligned is giving her troubles. She could only tolerate it for 3 hours the other day.

Hurley finally took her off the sedative that had caused her to hallucinate in a negative way at McLaren. A couple of us had to jump up and down and waive our arms and shout a lot to get her off this med. Amazing how they didn't know this.

I complained to the nurse manager, Chrystal, that Mom has a nurse that has never had her before the vast majority of the time. How can she be well cared for in ICU if her nurse never knows her? I got immediate results. Mom had the same nurse Fri - Sun. Let's just see if this wonderful event repeats itself.

We think my daughter has the chicken pox. That will impede my ability to go visit Mom this week. We were supposed to take our rescheduled vacation, the one that we post-poned at 4th of July because of Mom's illness, next week. Now, with Grace having the chicken pox, we may have to cancel all together. Wouldn't you know it?

Mom went into the hospital the day after Memorial Day. Well, it's the day after labor day. Poor thing, she missed summer all together!

Aug 28 - Hurly ICU

I visited Mom today. She was going in and out of ICU psychosis again. Once we started into a conversation, she kind of snapped out of it but once in a while she'd drift off into a parallel universe.

She had no temp, was still on the vent with low oxygen but the vent was still doing all the work. That' all I could find out.

Yet again, Mom's nurse had never had her before and couldn't give me a current status update. There has been once since Mom has been in Hurley that I've seen a nurse that has had her more than once! Hurley must outsource all of their nurses from agencies! Again, I will complain, that I am extremely uninformed about her medical condition. I'm sure that the staff update Mom and Dad on a regular basis but that helps me none. You all probably know that Dad is horrible at remembering anything like this and Mom can barely talk and is going in and out of ICU psychosis. If anyone else in the family has gotten an update while they are visiting her in the hospital, I don't know about it.

I asked Mom and Dad about transferring her to Henry Ford. Yesterday, Dad agreed with me. Today he explained that the "Guys from the Lodge" said that Hurley is a great hospital so now he is against transferring her! Damn those men! (For once, I'd like to carry more weight than a bunch of retired beer drinking men -- just once.) Mom doesn't want to transfer because she'll be worried about Dad. She is enjoying his company for hours on end every day. Too bad, I'd rather her be alive.

Her case manager stopped in to say hi. She couldn't give me any infor either. She did manage to scoff at me about transferring Mom to Hurley.

Still worried about Dad and winter. He shouldn't be driving much less in the dark or on roads that are anything other than dry. If anyone has an idea about what I can do with him, please let me know. Short of having him live with me, I'm lost. He won't live with me.

I think about how stressed I am and how sorry I am that I can't see Mom more than the 4 days a week I see her. Then I think how selfish I am because at least I'm not the one laying in that bed with one machine breathing for me and another one feeding me. It's hard.