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).