No Breaks for Betty

Roche Family News
Tuesday
Mom had a healthy return to St. Anne's on Thursday and Friday. She looked as good as she has looked in months. She was ready to rearrange and decorate her room and was looking forward to Bingo.

She had bouts of diarrhea over the weekend but on Monday, I received a call that she was bleeding rectally. It was a significant amount of blood. Dr. Hawes saw her at St. Anne's ( a monthly visit, not a nurse's call) and she sent her to the ER at Columbia.

Pat, Bridget, Colleen and I met her in the ER. She was as pale as is imaginable and very tired. They called in a GI consult and sent her to room 565. The GI doctor, Dr. Aman, decided to do an endoscopy to see if the bleeding was in the stomach and if he found nothing then prepare her for a colonoscopy in a day or two. Tom Coughlin came for a visit as we were waiting for the arrangements to be made for the endoscopy. He stayed with us until we saw her afterwards.

The endoscopy showed two duodinal ulcers, one larger than the other. The large one was "clipped" and the other will be treated with medication. Dr. Aman felt this was certainly the cause of the bleed and she was transfused with 3-4 units of blood, and then sent to the ICU for observation.

Mom slept comfortably and was stable all day so they have now sent her back to Room 565, phone # 961-4565. She should be there at least another day or two barring anymore complications. We all went home about 8:30PM. Another long day.