Crap!

Mom is still in hospital. She is in the rehab unit, but not doing much rehab. We had a peg tube put in on Wednesday because she was not getting her meds down and it is absolutely essential that she get her blood thinner (Predaxa) down. She also was swallowing very little. She can swallow, but after a few times swallowing, she just forgets how and it just sits in her mouth until we get her to spit it out. It is very frustrating. Speech therapist has never seen a swallowing issue like this. Now they are weaning her off the IV nutrition while using the peg tube, but not allowing her to swallow anything. We didn't know it would be this way or we might not have agreed to it. She has a living will which specifies no heroic efforts. Doc assures us this is not heroic, but we want her to be able to keep working on swallowing food. They assured us that she could eat by mouth some and get her meds through the tube. So far, this has not happened and it is Christmas now and the staff is limited. The only thing she has to look forward to is eating...now we have taken that from her. She did some therapy yesterday, but was asleep when I got there after my root canal. I couldn't even make her wake up enough to tell me good night. She got gout in her good foot, which made her not be able to stand up. They gave her a steroid shot which helped that, but also sent her blood sugar through the roof. We are all frustrated.

Oh,No!

Mom has had another stroke. Happened on Friday while she was having lunch. Caregiver said her eyes rolled back in her head and she started foaming at the mouth. She called brother; he called ambulance. She also has a "rip-roaring" (doc's words) UTI. She slept all Saturday and Sunday, but today she is much better. Had a swallowing test, which showed she is able to swallow. Will start with pureed food, but she hasn't eaten since Friday. She is getting an MRI now to see if they can tell anything by that. She walked a few steps with the therapist today, but not many. Here we go again. Rehab next. She smiled big at me and held my hand and started babbling today when I walked in. Stewart was already there, so we knew she was better.

NIght off!

My brother is back from vacation, so he and his wife sent me home tonight after I took Mom to the bathroom. I showed them how to put her to bed and I got to come home. Feels good to be home so early. I am glad they are home and Mom is delighted they are back. She really missed him. I'm going to bed now and watch TV under the warmth of my electric blanket!

I'm tired!

I had a night off last night to go to my Sunday school party, but I was so tired that I didn't go. We had already had our neighborhood brunch, then I went to visit with Mom some. I had someone already hired for the evening, so after I gave her instructions on how to put Mom to bed, I went home, put the garage door down and went to bed. It was nice. Mom cried when the caregiver walked her yesterday, but my brother called and talked to her and she was alright after that. Today, the caregiver said there was no problem. She walked really good and didn't cry.

We are so grateful for the rain all day today. Our drought has been so severe that even the aquifers that our drinking water comes from are getting low. It is supposed to rain all night and tomorrow, so I think I will go to bed and enjoy it.