Friday, May 7, 2010

So here's what happened.... part 2

Apparently a couple of weeks later, Lilian was not feeling well, missing her morning water aerobics, and not eating dinner in the dining room.

I guess this was Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, her masseuse phoned to say she had a cancellation, and could she come to Lilian's apartment to give her a massage? (Lilian normally went to a Dr. office for this).

The masseuse said that when she arrived, she was surprised to find Lilian in bed, her hair uncombed, appearing to be short of breath. The masseuse asked if she could phone the nurse, but Lilian replied "no, they will want me to go to the hospital". After some time, when Lilian attempted to climb onto the massage table and was too week to do so, then the masseuse took matters into her own hands and phoned the nurse. Subsequently the paramedics were called, and off she went in an ambulance to the hospital.

She e-mailed her daughter (whom she contacts every day), to inform "I have cancelled my massage and will go to the hospital for some tests".

LOL. Of course, not wanting to upset everyone, and thinking it was not a big deal, I am sure.

She goes to the hospital, and one or two of her friends come to see her.

Later, both the Dr., and her friend said she was extremely talkative and antimated, telling stories the friend (who has known her more than 7 years) had never heard, as Lilian is a very private person.

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So here's what happened...

I will try to remember much of what happened with my b/f's Mother.

The saga began about a month prior, when Lilian (not her real name) was on a cruise.

She became very short of breath, and was given oxygen onboard the ship, but then sent to a hospital on shore to be checked out. This was in Mexico. The Dr. at the hospital stated she had "water on the lungs". She was allowed to return to the ship.

After returning home, she went to her regular family Dr., who checked her out, and informed her it was probably due to too much salty food onboard the cruise ship.

When I spoke with her on the phone after this, and she told me what the Dr., had stated, I told her "well, that probably means you have a heart condition", to which she replied "oh, yes, I have 2 bad valves".

After this declaration, there was much back and forth between my b/f, his sister, and their Mother, with the end result being she did not want to entertain the idea of surgery. Her Dr. had assured her the problem could be controlled with diet, medication, and I presume exercise.

I spoke with her on the phone again, to inquire if there was oxygen available where she lived (she lives in a continuing care community)
and she assured me there was a nurse available with oxygen. I even confirmed that she had the phone number of the nurse, and I urged her to call the nurse if she felt short of breath.

Thinking I had done what I could, I put it out of my mind.

Of course, that was not be be.

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Lots to talk about

Sorry I haven't posted in sometime. This caregiving business kind of went into overdrive.

My b/f received a call on April 7th from the building where his Mother lives, that she had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. E-mail from his sister indicated she (the Mother) had water on the lungs, and would be kept a few days for tests and observation. When my b/f called the hospital a few hours later, he was informed she was on "life support", so we made arrangements to make the 16 hour drive to be with her.

Of course, my b/f has dialysis 3 times a week, so he went in the next day for a short dialysis, and asked them to arrange for dialysis at our destination. We had done this in Jan., so knew it was possible, but leaving on such short notice added one more stress item to our long list.

I will start writing some posts detailing what happened, so others might learn from our experience.

And, about this same time I learned one of my dear friends' Father had a stroke. He is around 95 years old, and recovered quite well from a stroke and quintuple bypass surgery 3 years ago. This time it doesn't appear as promising, and we are sitting on pins and needles as to his recovery.

On the bright side, it appears my b/f's kidneys might be working again. They will do some tests to see. Maybe they will cut down the length of time they do the dialysis each time (right now it's 3 1/2 hours), but what he would really like is go from 3 days a week to 2. We fear that will be unpopular, due to the standardized schedule of 3 days a week, either M/W/F, or Tu/Thurs/Sat. God forbid someone wants or needs something customized, but perhaps I am too cynical. We shall see.

Oh, and the hospice agency is holding a memorial service next Sat. I finally got a picture dropped off on Friday, but have not yet told my siblings, and have not RSVP'd.

Must add that to the list.

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