Today was odd!

Today she was kinda alert, but not really. She finally got some morphine at 10:45? I think! Her right arm is completely swollen. They'll have to do another fistulagram tomorrow. She'll also have dialysis and they're going to x-ray her left leg because it is swollen too! They don't have results from the biopsy of her bone marrow. Dr. Wang said that the white cell nuclear thingy showed that the white blood cells were gathering in her lungs...possibly pnemonia, or TB. We might know more tomorrow.

Sad news, Heather Ann Luedtke Chapman passed away this afternoon. She's only 32! Leaves a husband and two small children behind. She fought a long 3 year fight with cancer. Funeral will probably be Saturday at 10a.m.

This just in....

We just returned from the hospital. She's bright eyed and bushy tailed! She's very awake and coherrent and everything. Too bad visiting hours ended!!! She ate most of her dinner. Considering it was 3 hours old and mostly cold she did really well. It was nice to see her lively and talking! I hope she gets some sleep tonight!!! Her right hand is swollen again. Her fingers look like sausages. She might be having problems with her access again! Hopefully we'll get her back down to radiology before they discharge her, so they can see what's going on in that arm!!! That's all folks!

Another day....

Well, she's pretty much the same today. Sleeping and moaning. No real communication. She had the biopsy of her bone marrow at 12:45ish. She's on dialysis right now. Will be done around 7:30- 8:00 p.m. They were better at managing the pain today. Meaning, I didn't have to ask them to give her the vicadin or morphine! She'll probably be out of it for the rest of the night. I do plan to go back a little before 8pm to make sure she eats dinner. That's it for today!

What next?

So, I've been gone for two & 1/2 days. When we left she was alert and talking rationally. Today we got home and I went straight to the hospital. She's back to being sleepy all the time and talking nonsense!
We did receive good news while we were gone. There is no cancer!!! Hooray! Dr. Yu told me they were sending her back to Rio Hondo Subaccute & Nursing Center yesterday and then he called a few hours later and told me that the Infectious Disease Dr. said no way! She's staying until we run a few more tests and find out what's going on!!! THANK YOU!!!! I guess in one of her tests she turned up with big TB cells! Yes, tuberculosis. The Infectious Dr. came in and asked her if she had ever been exposed to TB she said yes, her father had it and died when she was 6! Yes, she always tests positive with skin tests and has to have chest x-rays. So...tomorrow they are doing a bone marrow test on the lesion on her femor to see if it's TB! And if they can run bacterial tests on the marrow they won't have to do another biopsy of the lumps under her arm. They wanted to run them with the last biopsy, but when the lab didn't find any cancer, they through her goo out before bacterial tests could be run! So...that's where we are now. She's having more tests!
I had to grow a spine today and make the nurse give her vicadin. She's obviously in pain, but they ask her if she wants pain meds and she says no. So, I had a copy of her advance directive that says I can make decisions for her even if she's capable of making them herself, so I told the nurse to give it to her regardless of whether she said she wanted it or not. She did give it to her. Funny thing, an hour later the nurse came in and said, has she been in pain for this whole hour? (She was moaning!) We said yes and the nurse came in and shot her up with morphine!!! So there you have it. I still have the advance directive in hand and I will share it with her idiot Dr. Yu tomorrow because it also says to keep her pain free even if the medication hastens her death! DUH! I'm exhausted! I thought getting a way for two days would help. It did! Eddie just says I'm depressed when I return home!

She's Back!

This morning started with Mom being taken off to radiology for a biopsy. She came back a few hours later and was sedated. She slept all day. Didn't eat breakfast or lunch. Hadn't eaten dinner the night before. Dr Yu came in and said that like we discussed yesterday, (I don't remember a discussion!), after Dialysis tomorrow they'll move her back to Rio Hondo. I told him NO! Dr. Wang said that if the biopsy under her arm was negative they wanted to check the lesion on her femer. So, she needed to stay in the hospital until ALL the results are in. He supposedly agreed and we'll see what happens now. Dr. Chuong came in and he doesn't think they'll find cancer. He thinks we need to make a "quality of life" decision. So, Patricia and I went out to lunch. Mom was completely zonked. When we got back I said hello to her and she woke up and was more normal than she has been since last Thursday I want to say! She asked intelligent questions and made normal comments. Remembered it was Eddie's b-day Friday and was concerned about him getting his b-day card! So...I don't see putting her on hospice unless she decides it when she's in a coherrent state! We'll see how the next days go and what her alertness level is. She ate all her dinner and then some. She drank lots of water. Hadn't had a drink in almost a whole day. When we left her she was tired, but still knew what was going on.

We'll see what happens. I'll be out of town til Sat. afternoon, so you will not get an update from me.

The latest

Almost different day, same story...but.....she did get a pik line today. She did have the nuclear white blood cell thingy. She hadn't had dialysis yet by the time I left at 8pm. She didn't have the biopsy or the 2 units of blood. The 2 units of blood is supposed to happen with dialysis.

The morning started with me feeding her breakfast. She ate everything! That was good. Then she got wheeled downstairs, bed and all for the pik line. I got a two hour break. On the way out of the hospital I ran into Dr. Wang. (oncologist). She said that there is no myleoma. So if the biopsy of the pit lumps is negative we may need to biopsy her bone marrow to see what the lesion on her femer is.
Then Dr. Yu came in at lunch time I think. He's so confusing. Today he told me, that we're still waiting for these tests, but after the biopsy she'll go back to Rio Hondo Subacute and Nursing Center because.....the germs in the air ducts!!!!!!! Does he really think the air ducts at Rio Hondo are magically cleaner than the hospital? He's retarded!!!
Tonight Dr Chuong came in. He's exhausted. He's been covering for Dr. Thornhill who's on vacation. He informed me today that Dr. Lange will be in Thursday to Sunday and he's glad! He's glad! Heck! I'm glad! Dr. Lange is drop-dead gorgeous!!! Unfortunately I'll miss his first two days, but I'm hoping that Saturday or Sunday I'll be able to talk with him and get the real low-down from him. I believe he'll give it to me straight especially if everyone else is talking nonsense still. Dr. Chuong also said that mom looked better last night than she did tonight. I agreed. It's just waiting to see what the tests say. If they're all negative for cancer, then he says our decision is harder because we can continue dialysis, but then it's a matter of quality of life. I'm not gonna worry about that now, just want to hear the test results. See if they can figure out what's infected!
Mom was pretty out of it after the pik line was put in. She did eat lunch. After the nuclear scan stuff, she was toast! She didn't eat dinner. She never was alert at all! It was sad. I'm tired and I'm going to bed!

Update!

Today should have been an eventful day, but it wasn't.
She was supposed to have her nuclear blood thingy, but they couldn't get any blood out of her. She is a turnip!!!!
They were also supposed to do a biopsy, but her blood was too thin! They've been giving her Vitamin K to thicken it up!
So tomorrow will be a very busy day.
First off, it's a dialysis day.
Second, if her blood is thick enough they'll do the biopsy.
Third, they're going to install(?) a pik line so they won't have to poke and prod her anymore to get blood.
Fourth, they need to draw the blood for the nuclear test.
Fifth, they decided she's a couple pints low....so they're giving her 2 units of blood.

She ate a really good dinner tonight. Ate all her entree and her soup and of course, applesauce. She gets her meds crushed up and then we add applesauce to "help the medicine go down". yum-yum.

She didn't scream as much today or yesterday when they rolled her back and forth. I found out today her pressure sore is at Stage 2! They have it covered now with a big, I guess, bandaid! I need to do some research and figure what a stage 2 is!
She slept for quite a while this afternoon. I'd say way over 4 hours. I woke her up to eat dinner.
One thing she said while she was dozing off is: "I set sail a week ago."

Dr. Yu said we might need to decide on Hospice. I'm trying to stretch it out for as long as I can until that decision has to be made. I might have to make it on Wednesday. Eddie and I are supposed to be going out of town for his birthday Thursday to Saturday. So..we'll see what happens.

The waiting game!

So, today Gma had an ultrasound of her kidneys. Tomorrow she may have a needle biopsy of the lumps that were discovered under her right arm. She may also have the test where they stick dye in her that accumulates where all the white blood cells are hanging out. They're still trying to discover what is causing the elevation in her white blood cells and now they want to know what the lumps are.

She had an okay day. She ate a good breakfast, a not so good lunch and a so-so dinner.
She talked about all kinds of goofy things, but no Mary Poppins. Talked about lots of family members, but none that were actually there. I'll keep you posted!

It's a Jolly Holiday with Gma!

Yesterday when I got to the hospital, Gma talked all things Mary Poppins!

I asked her what she ate for lunch and she said Mary Poppins cookies and a spoon full of sugar!

She said she had a new Mary Poppins sweater that she wanted me to put in a box.

There were lots of animals in her room and 3 little blonde hair, blue eyed girls.

I wonder what she's actually experiencing!

Well, sometime between now and Monday p.m., Gma will have a biopsy of the lump in her right arm pit. Dr. Lee, her new infectious disease dr. found the lump. The nurse told me this morning there was another one too and it was bigger. A different oncologist came in tonight. Didn't do much. They're back to talking about the spots on her bone scan being calcium difficiencies. I wish they'd all make up there minds and be on the same page.

Dr. Lee said yesterday that it's very likely cancer in her bones and now possible elsewhere. She was supposed to have a kidney ultrasound today, but today it didn't happen because of lunch and dialysis. Yesterday it didn't happen because mom threw a fit!

She threw a fit tonight when the nurses turned her over, (like they're supposed to do every hour!) She screamed!!! Kept yelling Betty! Made me chuckle!!!! She doesn't want to cooperate at all. When they rolled her over they also changed her and I got to see her bed sore on the middle of her bottom. Talk about ugly! And they wonder why her white blood cell count is up.

Oh yeah! They're also doing another "nuclear" test on Monday. This is where they shoot her with "nuclear" dye and wait to see where it goes, because it will go to where the white blood cells are and then they'll know what's causing the infection! Hopefully there won't be a shortage of Nuclear whatever like they said about the results from the bone scan!

I think that's about it. I asked Dr. Yu today to please manage her pain better, but they keep asking her if she wants meds and she says no! I'm going to have to point out the line in her advanced directive that I can make decisions for her even if she's capable of making them herself, which in all reality she isn't!

I think that's it. Hopefully we'll know more Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday.

Yeehaw!

Wow!

I was able to talk with Gma on the phone this morning. She hasn't been able to carry on a conversation for over a week. It was nice to hear her voice. She was preparing for a test of her chest and stomach. She had to drink some kind of goo! I'll be going to the hospital in a bit! Will fill you in later tonight!

Hmm! Drs?

I suppose there's a reason why it's called "practicing" medicine!

Drs are pretty dumb. Her primary physician, cannot be that dumb. When you have 4 other people telling you things don't look good and he's still trying to paint a rosey picture. Kinda wanna hit him!!!!

We have another dr. on GmaGrumpy's case. They are running more tests today and we will hopefully know more about what we're dealing with tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long the tests and results take!

It's 2:17 a.m.........

I just returned from the hospital. Yes, she's back at the hospital. They're trying to find out what's infected!!! I hope they do a few other tests too! I'll keep you posted!

A slightly better day!

Today she stayed awake more. She's not completely awake, but her eyes stay open wider and longer than they were.
She ate a so-so lunch. Dinner she did a little better. They pureed all her food, so it looked and smelled gross and I really don't know what it was, but it was easier for her to eat!!!

They gave her a dialysis friendly protein drink with her dinner pills. At least that will help with some of her nutrients!

She still sleeps alot and talks in her sleep and says some crazy stuff, but I think she's either feeling better, or healing is taking place.

The levaquin will hopefully kick in so her fever will go away. It was 99.2 tonight before dinner. They gave her a tylenol.

That's about it. Hopefully she'll get a good night sleep and she'll be more alert tomorrow!

Interesting Day

The day didn't start off too good. She was very hot and sweaty. So I made them take her temp again. It was 99.1 for normal people, that's not quite a big deal, but Gma Grumpy's normal temp is 97.6....so it's a little hotter than you would think. They gave her some tylenol. There was another communication error and I almost beat up a CNA. The CNA told tranport to get out of her room, because she had to eat lunch before she went to dialysis. I told the CNA she was going to dialysis! The CNA got the nurse and the nurse said that their paperwork said that dialysis wasn't until 1:30 p.m. It's been at 1:00 with transport picking her up at 12:30 since March of 2008. The nurse called dialysis and they said they weren't expecting her until 1:30. So the CNA stood there and "fed" gma her lunch. She kept yelling at her to "pass her food"...she meant swallow! Gma has been having trouble chewing her food and swallowing it. For the CNA to be standing there trying to make her hurry, just wasn't cutting it! The nurse finally went and got her a sack lunch to take to dialysis and she was able to leave. Monday morning I will be having a chat with Connie the head nurse at dialysis, clarifying her dialysis time and making sure she clarifies that time with Rio Hondo. I will also be finding someone at Rio Hondo to tell me what my expectations of service should be there.

Anyway, she got to dialysis and Telly, (no she's not a muppet!) is very concerned about how awful Gma looks and her blood count was low on Thursday. She was questioning whether we should send her to the hospital. She called the kidney dr. and they said to dialyze her and give her some iron. So they did. I stayed with her for awhile. It was kinda fascinating to watch the dialysis machine start cleaning her blood.

I left for awhile and then Eddie and I went back about 1 1/2 hours later. I fed her some applesauce and she ate it well. She was a little wacky in her comments, but that's the fun part of this experience. She was transported back to Rio Hondo and I fed her dinner. It's the most alert she's been since Monday and the most she's eaten since then too! Her coloring was much better back at Rio Hondo. They are giving her leviquin. They think she has a UTI. So she'll be on the leviquin for 10 days. Hopefully that will help her feel better. After dialysis the swelling in her left hand had gone down. It's been black and blue from all the needle pokes at the hospital trying to find blood. The blood has spread and she was really swollen this morning, but the dialysis got that fluid out of her!

I haven't thrown a fit over their food choices for mom. The last time she was there it was a daily struggle. At this point I'm just happy that she eats. Every meal has something that she shouldn't be eating. Tonight the tuna sandwich was on wheat bread. She can't have whole grains. I scraped the tuna goo off and fed her that! She seemed to enjoy it and the vegie soup and the pears! She didn't eat the salad, but with her chewing problems...lettuce just isn't fun!

Tomorrow is a new day! Hopefully it will be a good one!!!

Dee

Gma Grumpy update!

Today Gma Grumpy was mostly out of it. She screams when they have to roll her over to change her. She really doesn't like that. Eddie got to feed her lunch today because I had a previous committment. He said they changed her while he was there, but he left the room. He said she was yelling, "I hate you" to the nurses!!! I don't think I've ever heard my mom say that!!

She's was also running a slight fever and they finally gave her something for it. We haven't decided if the being out of it is part of the healing process, or if it's the meds.

She keeps chewing her medicine and so they'll probably start crushing it and feeding it to her with applesauce. She takes forever to chew. She either forgets she's chewing or falls asleep while chewing. She swallows like it hurts and so she's supposed to be seeing a speech therapist to see if she needs some other kind of help.

She was talking to her mom today, telling her they hurt her. She told Eddie she would miss him when he was feeding her lunch. He asked if she was going somewhere and she said no!

We asked them to remove her bandages from dialysis today and they took off one bandaid and the skin came with it....so now she has a skin tare.

She is back in Rio Hondo Subaccute and Nursing Center. She's in the same room as Feb. 2008.

The sticky stuff is still on the ceiling from where her hearts were hung up on Valentine's day 2008!!!

Her nurses are the same and they remember her and me always fighting the dietician. I'm not fighting this time. If she'll eat...she can eat whatever they give her.

She did already get ripped off. I took a brand new can of air freshner last night and it was gone this morning. I complained!

She was wiggling her toes tonight. She was also telling us she couldn't move them, but she sat there wiggling them.

I asked her if she knew where she was and she said, "the little hospital" I thought that was cute.

I will try and update this blog everyday to keep you all posted!

I'm tired and I'm going to bed!

Dee