Iowa Roches Arrive

Pat and his family arrived today for their annual summer visit. They headed right out to visit Mom and she was happy to see them all. I'll include pictures next time of Grandma and her littlest grandkids.

Mom is holding her own. She still has a lot of redness in her left foot and some swelling but no fever or warmth so no doctor call. I try to have faith in them. She has had a lot more confusion lately and it concerns me that it is a foreshadowing of something coming. I hope I'm wrong. For now she is happy for the extra company. We hope to be able to bring her home for awhile next week or over the weekend.

Bridge and Al were in to stock Mom with snacks and popsicles before they left today on their Alaskan cruise. They will be gone for 2 weeks and should have quite an adventure.

Weekend News

I spent the afternoon with Mom today. We sat out on the patio for awhile with Sam and Mom's favorite aide, Jessie. It was a beautiful day and she appreciated the fresh air. Then we headed in for Penny Bingo. No winners here but it filled some time. Sam sat quietly under the table. He is a hit whenever he visits.

Mom was looking pretty good except that her legs are swollen again and the left one, which has the worst skin issues, was looking red. She also has a red mottled look to the skin all over her trunk, sort of like a rash but not itchy. I asked the nurse to come and look at it.

The nurse checked her vitals and temp, blood pressure and pulse Ox are all OK. She had no answers about the redness or rash but I'm concerned. They are very hesitant to call a doctor, especially over the weekend. If it is still red when Colleen visits tomorrow we may have to insist that a call be put in. I hope they have learned that waiting with the antibiotics just makes her issues worse.

Pat and his family are due in on Thursday and she is really looking forward to spending some time at home.

Holding On

Aunt Betty and I visited with Mom on Sunday afternoon. She was doing OK but still in her chair. We had a hard time getting anyone to come and help her to the bathroom so she had to walk with me. She did it, slowly! She is still looking pretty rugged.

We contacted our care manager for Family Care and asked her to go to a plan of care meeting for Mom to address some of our care concerns. She spoke with the day nurse and I got a call right away saying that they would be making some changes. I hope it happens. She deserves to get timely basic personal care.

I asked the nurse to relay to the PT that she had walked a little with me. I guess she turned down PT today. That is a problem. She says she wants things and then when they are offered to her, she often says no. I hope they can find a way to coax her. She will not heal sitting in a chair. She wants to sleep there too rather than in her bed so they are going to try to convince her to get into bed tonight. She can be pretty strongwilled.

No other issues on the table so we just need some time to heal and get stronger.

Getting Better

Colleen and I visited with Mom yesterday and she seems to be better. She was still in bed when we got there and we called the aides to help her into the chair. There needs to be two of them and they use this hoist system so we waited for over an hour. In the meantime, we helped Mom into a sitting position and then coaxed her to take a few steps to the chair. Her legs are very sore and the muscles are tight but she did it. I am hoping that PT will start working on standing and walking right away. They seem to be very hesitant to challenge her.

She slid out of bed Friday night and landed on the floor. There are no side rails on her bed and the wheels don't lock. One of the nurses was going to put in a request for another bed. I hope that happens soon too. She wasn't hurt when she fell.

She is tired of sitting in her room and looking for company. Unfortunately, she forgets that she's had company pretty quickly. Once she is a little more mobile, she can return to Bingo and maybe go outside.

Good Thursday

I spent the afternoon with Mom at St. Anne's today. She is much improved from yesterday and the day before. She is alert and talkative. Her arm swelling is down so she is able to feed herself and hold a cup. Her legs are pretty war torn and they are keeping them elevated on pillows. She isn't walking at all so they use an elaborate hoist to lift her out of the chair and into bed. It isn't very comfortable but it gets the job done.

While I was there she had a visit and communion from Reed, a very nice Salvatorian student who is working there. She also met with the speech therapy person and had an OT evaluation. OT said that they would start working with her in her room tomorrow and they would alternate with PT every other day so that she would only have double therapies on one day a week. I questioned how hard they would push her as she tends to say, "No Thanks" when they come. She said they would try to convince her to work with them.

I brought Sam along so that was a nice treat too. He is a very good visitor and all of the ladies love him.

She is still confused about where she is and how she got there. I am hopeful that will improve, especially with the speech therapy. For now, she is on the mend and we are all thankful for that!

Back to St. Anne's

Everyone was in to see Grandma this weekend. We all got together to celebrate graduation with Kate and Brendan. Mom wished she could be there but she is still very weak. I got a call on Monday saying they would not send her back yet but would look at things again Tues. She was a little better last night but still confused.

Surprise! Pat called there this afternoon and they were in the middle of transferring her back to St. Anne's. I just called out there and she is there already and they are assessing her. I have to admit I have some reservations about moving her now. She is still very weak and unable to walk or transfer without a lot of help. St. Anne's says they are able to take care of her but I have seen the difference in nursing home care... In the hospital, if you call for the nurse, someone responds right away. At the nursing home, it can take quite a while for someone to come. No choice now. She's there and we will have to work with it.

The infection is better and she will be on IV antibiotics until Sat. Her kidney function is improving and her strength is still very poor. I'll head out there tonight to see how she is and I'll report back.

Still Fighting

Mom is hanging in. The internist called me and said that he wanted to discharge her back to St. Anne's last Friday, on long term antibiotics. That requires that she have a PICC line put in to a major vein which then doesn't have to be changed every three days. I questioned whether St. Anne's could handle her. She isn't at all able to walk to a bathroom and St. Anne's doesn't keep patients on catheters. Even the IV would be unusual for them. St. Anne's said they would take her but then the infectious disease doctor (Dr. Altman) who is in charge of her wounds said no. She wants to look at it again on Monday so discharge would not be before Tuesday if then.

She is still pretty sick. I don't know if it's pain meds or the infection but she is very groggy and often talks as if she is half in a dream. She was asked her name in the OR for the PICC line and she said Wallace. She is eating very little and she is still very bloated or swollen with fluids, although her kidney function has improved. She's not out of the woods but we all feel safer with her in the hospital.

I'm headed up there this morning so if there is any more news, I'll be back later to report.

No Better, No Worse

Mom is not feeling much better yet. She has a urinary tract infection and cellulitis which is making her legs swollen and red and very sore. They are trying different antibiotics but for now she is still uncomfortable and sleepy. She ate a little more yesterday but it is disappointing that she hasn't bounced back. The doctor added prednisone to her meds today (didn't get a reason yet) so maybe that will make a difference. Not really up for company yet.

Be Careful What You Say Out Loud!

I ended the last blog by saying I was hoping for an uneventful summer. Well, we almost made it to summer...

Mom is back in the hospital again. The nurse had called me to say they were doing an x-ray of her leg because she was swollen and it was painful to the touch. I spoke with her Sat. morning and she was so groggy and made little sense that Bridget hussled over there to check things out. She found her in bed, her legs swollen, painful, bright red, and very incoherent. She could hardly stay awake. After talking to some of the aides, we found out she'd had a 102 degree fever in the morning and that her leg has been swollen for days.

She is dehydrated, has a raging urinary tract infection and cellulitis in her leg. We are hopeful that there will be nothing else.
Long story short, Bridge insisted that she go to the emergency room. She actually got attitude from the nurse on duty saying, she'd be just fine. It worries me that they would leave her in such pain and confusion.

At Columbia, they found the UTI, and are guessing at cellulitis as the cause of the leg pain. She will have a consult with the wound doctors again because her skin is forming a couple of blisters. She also has a huge skin tear on her right forearm from an "almost" fall at St. Anne's last Wed. She lost her balance and someone grabbed her arm to steady her and her fragile skin tore.

She had a tough night last night. She is very uncomfortable. Her leg aches and she can't get comfortable to sleep. She keeps moaning. They started her on antibiotics right away and expect that she will be much better in a couple of days.

She is in Room 480 at Columbia (near UWM) and her phone # is 961-4480. I would think she'll be up for calls tomorrow. And I will never say we're on a pretty smooth run again!