Friday Night

I got to the hospital at about 10 this morning. Mom had eaten 5 tator tots (the hospitals version of home fries). I was very happy and relieved. Maybe just maybe she will begin to have an appetite.

It felt good to go back to mom's apartment last night and sleep uninterrupted in a bed. Erinn called at 7AM to make sure I was getting up. It was her first all- niter with mom so she was exhausted. Especially since mom got up so often to go to the bathroom. She went home and worked for awhile and then passed out on her couch for three hours. When I spoke to her was still exhausted. I can't possible imagine how she feels LOL. Tomorrow is Jamie's turn.

The doctors feel bad that we feel the need to have one of us at her side all night long, although they do understand. They mentioned a bed alarm. It works by connecting the patient's hospital gown to a string. If the patient gets up it sets off an alarm for the nurse. The question is does that really secure an immediate response? What if the nurse is in with someone? If it happens 5 times over the course of a night will the nurse lose her patience with mom? The other concern is mom. Many times it is only my sisters or I who can reason with her when she is confused or persistent.

The doctors also mentioned the possibility of mom needed to go to rehab before she can come home. The physical therapist will make that evaluation. She comes in every day around 11 much mom's displeasure. Many times she is in bed sleeping and we have to keep waking her up. About half way through she tells the therapist she's had enough. Most of the time I am able to convince her to finish........but you know that stubbornness she has! Mom's feet and ankles are very swollen. Partly from the fluids she is receiving and partly from being inmobile for so long.

She had a rough period of time earlier tonight. Her head was spinning and she was nauseous. She was also feeling a lot of pressure in her chest. We had close to an hour of her sitting in bed and then immediatley insisting she needed to sit up and dangle her feet. No matter how she sat she was crying out for God to help her. I kept trying to make her realize that the up and down was only making her breathing and dizziness worse but she was so uncomfortable she really didn't know what to do with herself. She was making herself panic in the process. She finally settled down and fell asleep. She stayed asleep as long as I sat and held her hand. When I moved to a seat by the end of her bed she sat up reaching for my hand and said I was too far away. She is in a deep enough sleep right now that I was able to get up.

Well, seems I spoke too soon. She woke up to go to the bathroom and confirmed my reasoning for sleeping in this hospital room every night. The need to urinate woke her up and she paniked. She started hitting the bedrail and yelling "I go to go right now, help!" If one of us isn't here she wouldn't find her call bell nor would she be able to wait long enough for a response. I'm afraid she'll try getting up on her own and fall. We have enough problems on our hands without that. When she was getting back into bed her head started spinning again which caused her to panic again. She compalined of a headache and the pain in her abdomen starting so the nurse brought her pain med. Her blood pressure was high too (158/107) The highest its been in awhile. Someone her nurse Traci and I convinced her to try to swallow her evening bloo presesure pill. Thank Gog for small successes.

I'm hoping she is going to sleep for the next two hours at least since she got her medicine so I shoudl probably stry to sleep as well. Thank you for all of your prayers and concerned calls. We love you for trying to help us through this nightmare.