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