Aug 3

Let me begin by saying that I was misinformed about any brain injury as a result of the lack of O2 . This misinformation I cannot control and I do apologize for scaring you. However, her extreme confusion, her inability to understand basic commands or to write her name, etc etc was real.

Real scary.

Mom is delusional and entering psychosis. This is common in people that have come close to death, had so many major organ failures, and who are not getting the right nutrition. At this point, her biggest problem is malnutrition. Mom really has never eaten properly since she pulled out of her last bought of being septic in HF. She had to have a blood transfusion yesterday because her potassium and B12 levels were very low; she was also anemic. She is starting to confuse dreams with reality and she doesn't trust the medical staff. When you question her about what they have done wrong, she gets confused and can't really answer the question. All she knows is that we need to call the police about "it". Also, Dad is the bad guy all of a sudden without reason. Aren't we all most likely to take out a bad day on our spouse before anyone else?

Mom is uncomfortable being by herself in the hospital. It is time for everyone to start trying to visit her as much as possible. Her friends Martha and Carol popped in the other day. Aunt Lisa was there and mentioned that Mom was really putting up a good front for her buddies. Daily visits by friends would wear her out but I think occasional visits will do her wonders. Her psychosis seemed to temper after I was there a couple hours. She kept asking, "Where is your Dad?" He's still her favorite ;)

Mom will be given a feeding tube inserted in her side early next week unless she does a 180 on her eating habits. The docs suggested I start prepping her for this now. I thought she'd be upset about it but her response was, "Ok, good." She just really doesn't want to eat. I believe that she understands that she won't get better unless she gets nutrition. Although, she then drank a can of Boost in about 1.5 hours without much encouragement.

She continues to have pneumonia and the thick secretions that accompany it. Hurley is now monitoring her oxygen continuously. They took away the trach piece that makes it easier for her to talk because of the thickness of the secretions. She is getting really skilled at covering the trach with her finger so that she can talk.