Thursday, March 27, 2008
Long day, good results
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The prodigal has been found....
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Trying times
After the doc left and my brother came back from wherever he had been, one of the nurses came in and put a red sticker on Mom's arm band. When Ron asked the nurse what it was, she told him it meant Mom was DNR. He didn't know what that meant, so she had to tell him it meant Do Not Resuscitate. It was right at that moment that I called Mom's room to see if they had an update, and when Ron answered, I knew something was wrong because he sounded really weird, then he said he'd have to call me back in a few minutes and hung up. So I dashed around getting the kids something to eat, then Paul and I rushed to the hospital.
I am sooooo angry with the doc, he had no business telling Mom she was terminal when none of us were there to help support her. And to have the nurse put a red sticker on her arm band and then proceed to tell Mom it meant she was DNR was OVER THE TOP insensitive & crass! All evening Mom kept saying she wanted Ron to sit up with her all night so she wouldn't die.
Anyway, my oldest brother is planning on meeting us at the hospital tomorrow morning (he lives 2 hrs away) so we all can talk to Mom's doc together and get some straight answers. We also plan on raising cain on how insensitive he was when he delivered the bad news. Mom said he mentioned something about hospice care, but she wasn't able to give us any other information. So we'll have lots of questions for him tomorrow.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot...I also have to try to track down my sister, who has been AWOL for almost three years. I called her ex-husband's cell phone yesterday to see if she was still living with him, and he said they had recently separated....they were only divorced "on paper", so she could qualify for disability...she has been diagnosed bi-polar, and has attempted suicide & been hospitalized in mental institutions so many times I've lost count.
Her ex, Danny, who is Israeli and speaks with a heavy accent, told me she was living in Wichita in a homeless shelter. He doesn't know the name of the shelter, and he can't call her, but she calls him every few days, so he'll pass on the info about our mom's health the next time she calls. This whole mess with Michelle will be sooo stressful on all of us....she didn't show up at our Dad's funeral 12 years ago because she was mad at me. It was another 3 or 4 years before we finally tracked her down and "made up". I'm not sure how to track her down this time, but I guess I'll call the Red Cross first and see if they can help us locate her, and if not, then we may be out of luck.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!
Mom told the doc that she had always been very resistant to the idea of a nursing home, but she would do whatever he thought was best so she could get better. So, before she had time to change her mind (LOL), we got her admitted and tucked in her bed. They will be running lots of tests, then in a few days, they'll send her to the nursing home. The doc mentioned that it could take weeks or possibly even several months before she'll be strong enough to go back home, but Mom didn't bat an eye. (I realize she's so weak she doesn't have any fight in her right now, and when she starts feeling better that will probably change, but at least today went off without a huge scene.)
Thank you Lord!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Parenting your parents
My 79 yr old mother was hospitalized about 4 weeks ago because she was severely dehydrated and had a massive infection in her intestines. (She has worn a colostomy bag for 7 years.) She was released 3 weeks ago today, but she is still very, very weak, and my brother Ron, who lives with her, isn't making her take care of herself the way she should.
She is not a very good patient (and trust me, that's putting it mildly LOL), so he gets frustrated with her and just gives up. I really do appreciate him living with her, because otherwise I don't know what we'd do. But unfortunately, he's in denial about how sick she is, and I'm worried that she's not going to get better.
My aunt & uncle have called several times over the last few days to let me know they're concerned, but every time I call Ron he says Mom is "just fine" and getting much better. (Which is exactly what he told me in the weeks before our dad passed away from colon cancer...denial, denial, denial, up to and including the last hour of Dad's life.)
I had a dream early this morning that Mom passed away....on the one hand I hope my dream wasn't prophetic, but on the other hand, maybe the Lord is trying to prepare me for what's ahead (I have had several prophetic dreams in the past). I just don't know what to do. They are both soooo resistant to other people's input/suggestions, but I just can't sit back and let her die.
Jaden has a pre-op appt. at the drs office tomorrow morning, so I'm going to ask them when Mom's appt is and be there (if they'll tell me, stupid privacy laws....grrrrrr!). If the office won't give me the appt time info, I'm at least going to tell the PA during Jaden's appt. exactly what's been going on with mom so she can make an informed decision about what to do for her. I'm sure that Ron & mom will sugar-coat what they tell the PA and not be honest about her condition. My aunt & uncle both told me they think Mom should probably be readmitted to the hospital, or at the very least, admitted to the "swing-bed" unit until she regains her strength.
Anyway, if anyone is reading this, please pray that my mom & brother will be receptive to my help/input, and that her doc will figure out why she's still so sick.
Monday, March 17, 2008
A little bragging.....
Friday, March 14, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Today's math lesson.....13 x 3 (+ 10) = OLD!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Great news!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Memories
Ahhhh, memories. Ü
Strange, yet praiseworthy day....
So I called first thing this morning and they said they could squeeze him in at 2:45. But they also wanted me to take Luke to the hospital for a chest x-ray sometime during the morning so they could rule out pneumonia (even though I told them he didn't have any congestion). So this is what my day looked like:
- 7:45....wake up, get breakfast for Jaden and get him dressed for school
- 8:15....get Jaden off to preschool
- 8:30....call drs office for Luke's appt
- 8:45....take shower
- 8:47....receive call back from dr's office while IN the shower...thankfully, cell phone was conveniently handy Ü
- 9:00....put in load of laundry for weekend
- 10:00..take Luke to hospital for chest xray
- 11:05..get home from hospital, trade Luke for Jaden with car running
- 11:06..leave for Jaden's speech therapy appt at hospital
- 11:50..arrive back home from Jaden's speech therapy
- 12:00..fix lunch for kids, read through a few emails while eating, but no time to respond
- 1:15...leave for Jaden's ENT appt
- 2:35...get home from ENT appt (surgery for tubes & ABR scheduled for 3/26), this time trade Jaden for Luke with car running
- 2:36...leave for Luke's dr appt
- 3:00...after clearing Luke of pneumonia & ear infection, PA reports that he is wheezing, then inadvertently discovers a large, hard mass in his abdomen
- 3:15...DR orders abdominal ultrasound and xray, casually wonders outloud to med student if kids w/DS are more susceptible to GI "tumors" and asks him to go check it out on the internet
- 3:15...discover magical "cure" for sluggish heartbeat and meaning of scripture admonition to "pray without ceasing"
- 3:20...take Luke to the radiology dept for second time today, they know Luke by first name
- 3:25...call Paul to ask him to pray
- 3:35...Paul shows up at hospital to give his support....what a guy!
- 3:45...Luke has ultrasound
- 4:30...Radiologist comes into room to check out mass
- 4:35...sent back to radiology waiting area to wait for xray
- 4:40...see Dr and med student in hall by waiting area, Dr stops to say he thinks mass is just stool, but realize that Drs don't leave their busy practice to check out ultrasound results unless they're worried it might be something serious
- 4:45...Luke has abdominal xray
- 4:55...leave hospital for home
- 5:00...pull into driveway, receive call from PA to let us know that Drs are 99% sure mass is just excess stool
WHEW! What a roller-coaster day of up and down emotions and feeling like I was being "tag-teamed" by my two youngest boys, shuttling them back and forth between home and hospital. All I want to do now is curl up and sleep til Sunday, but I still need to finish washing and packing clothes for myself, Jaden, & Luke for the weekend, so guess who'll be burning the midnight oil tonight?
But at least once I do get to bed I'll be able to sleep peacefully after hearing the only news I was praying we'd hear....Luke is ok, he's just constipated! Thank you Lord!!!!!!!!
I'd better get moving!