Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
#28 It's Been a Long Week
Well mom has been in the hospital since last Sunday (almost a week). She has about a foot of her intestines removed this time due to a twisting. Because it was twisted for so long, a section of her intestines actually died and was on it's way to become septic. She's been on a cocktail of all types of drugs and meds. However as of today she is only receiving one thing thru her IV and that is a nourishment solution. She had to have a tube thru her nose that was draining the bile from her stomach, however two days ago at midnight she became barbaric and pulled the tube out of her nose while she was half asleep. The doctors were going to put it back in, but her nurses convinced him not to.
Her intestines are starting to wake up, make gurgling sounds, and function the way they are suppose to. Once that started to happen, she was permitted a liquid diet, but as of this morning she is on a full normal diet. But that does not mean she is allowed to just start eating though. This morning she had 1 egg white, 2 bites of rice cereal, and about 4 bites of yogurt.
Because of all the meds she has developed Diabetes. We are told this is just temporary, fingers crossed.
They are thinking of sending her home tomorrow, but we all feel (and so does she) that it might be too soon.
Her intestines are starting to wake up, make gurgling sounds, and function the way they are suppose to. Once that started to happen, she was permitted a liquid diet, but as of this morning she is on a full normal diet. But that does not mean she is allowed to just start eating though. This morning she had 1 egg white, 2 bites of rice cereal, and about 4 bites of yogurt.
Because of all the meds she has developed Diabetes. We are told this is just temporary, fingers crossed.
They are thinking of sending her home tomorrow, but we all feel (and so does she) that it might be too soon.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
#27 O Crap (or lack there of)
Ok so mom was admitted into the hospital last night and upon results, found out she had an impacted bowel. At 2312 she was wheeled into emergency surgery to correct the problem. I was babysitting so I could not be here before she went into surgery, but I got to the hospital a little bit after midnight. I wanted to keep my dad company. At around 0300 the doctor came out to talk to us. The first words out of his mouth were "She is very very sick" which scared the hell out of dad and I. Usually this doctor follows up with some positive affirmations, but however this time he did not. She had 2 twists in her small intestines, which caused an entrapment of bowel and fiberous foods, which was backing up. This is what was causing her the intense stomach cramps. The doctor told us she had waited too long to come to the hospital, and as a result part of her intestines died. During Surgery they completely removes 2 feet of intestine and sewed her back up.
I am sitting in her room as we speak. I have been sick for the past week so I have been wearing a mask. She is laying in her hospital bed. She has a tube down her nose to remove the bile from her stomach. She also has a catheter. She is restricted from eating, and she really shouldnt be drinking as much as she is, but she keeps making me go get her more ice. As she drinks it, it just comes right back up the tube. She can't get the tube out until it stops draining. She doesn't seem to grasp the concept that she should stop drinking.
She is feeling much much better than she was, but she's very very weak, and keeps dozing in and out. The surgery was quite invasive, and she has a HUGE incision that is about 14 inches long. They used her previous scare from her hysterectomy in June 1974.
Why did this happen? Well in 2006 she has surgery for Colon Cancer in which they removed 18 inch inches of her small intestine. They said this does not directly cause a kinkage of the bowel, but it could have helped caused it.
Doctors say she will probably be here for 5 days at least. We are very lucky we caught this (even though a bit late), the outcome would have been much worse if she had waited any longer.
I will keep you updated.
I am sitting in her room as we speak. I have been sick for the past week so I have been wearing a mask. She is laying in her hospital bed. She has a tube down her nose to remove the bile from her stomach. She also has a catheter. She is restricted from eating, and she really shouldnt be drinking as much as she is, but she keeps making me go get her more ice. As she drinks it, it just comes right back up the tube. She can't get the tube out until it stops draining. She doesn't seem to grasp the concept that she should stop drinking.
She is feeling much much better than she was, but she's very very weak, and keeps dozing in and out. The surgery was quite invasive, and she has a HUGE incision that is about 14 inches long. They used her previous scare from her hysterectomy in June 1974.
Why did this happen? Well in 2006 she has surgery for Colon Cancer in which they removed 18 inch inches of her small intestine. They said this does not directly cause a kinkage of the bowel, but it could have helped caused it.
Doctors say she will probably be here for 5 days at least. We are very lucky we caught this (even though a bit late), the outcome would have been much worse if she had waited any longer.
I will keep you updated.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
#26 2 Month Anniversary
Mom's 2 month anniversary was yesterday. Everything has been quite amazing, however myself and my mom both have been super sick for the past week. Today is the first day I actually feel human again. Unfortunately, my mother does not, and as we speak she is being checked into the hospital. Symptoms - vomiting, diarrhea, and horrible stomach pains. Never had a fever though. They want to observe her and fear she is dehydrated. I will definitely be posting more as detail develop.
Friday, February 11, 2011
#25 One Month Anniversary
Today is the one month anniversary of Fred's arrival into our family. Wow it's amazing to see what all has transpired over the last two months. I am happy to report that everyone is doing pretty good. There is still healing going on on both sides. The Donor, is doing pretty well, but still isn't back to 100% presurgery. He still gets tired a bit easily, and just doesn't quite have all him oommppfff back yet.
Mom is doing miraculous and already has her first trip planned for the end of April. She still is urinating every 45 minutes, which bugs her at night. But she is not complaining about it. Her incision still is quite tender and still healing. She says it feeling better but still very sore. She is doing quite a lot around the house. She's back to cooking and cleaning, stuff she enjoys doing. It's not like my dad is being a jerk and backing off or anything like that lol. He helps too, (not the cooking part, he'd likely accidentally poison mom if he did that).
We are all looking forward to visiting my brother, sister and kids. I also am looking forward to this gourmet meal my mom is going to cook her donor one of these days. mmmmm I hope I am invited.
Mom is doing miraculous and already has her first trip planned for the end of April. She still is urinating every 45 minutes, which bugs her at night. But she is not complaining about it. Her incision still is quite tender and still healing. She says it feeling better but still very sore. She is doing quite a lot around the house. She's back to cooking and cleaning, stuff she enjoys doing. It's not like my dad is being a jerk and backing off or anything like that lol. He helps too, (not the cooking part, he'd likely accidentally poison mom if he did that).
We are all looking forward to visiting my brother, sister and kids. I also am looking forward to this gourmet meal my mom is going to cook her donor one of these days. mmmmm I hope I am invited.
Monday, February 7, 2011
#24 Self Sufficient
Well today was a great day! Why might you ask? Because mom had her stent removed today!!! Which means her body is functioning on it's own fully and completely!!!!! Yeaya!! Besides her daily medication (which she will have to take for the rest of her life), she has no other instruments, gadgets, etc helping her survive. They have decided to leave her fistula in for good. When they went to install her fistula, they had a hard time, because mom does not have very god veins, and they actually had to remove a vein from her leg I believe, to construct the one she has. So instead of surgically removing it, and having to reconstruct one if by chance her kidney fails, they are just going to leave it there. However she is gaining weight so it does not look as dramatic as it did before.
That's right folks, I said she is gaining weight!!! She's always been skinny-minny in her adult life, but she was at that TOO SKINNY point during dialysis. She also has ENERGY!!!!! She gets worn out easily, but at least she has it in her to do stuff, which is why she gets worn out. She hasn't been able to really leave the house yet, she still isn't allowed to drive, and being around the public isn't good for her because her system is still vulnerable. The last thing she needs is to get sick.
Her only complaint, and she doesn't even complain about it, is since she didn't have to urinate for 2 years, her bladder atrophied a bit. So she has to use the bathroom about every 45 minutes. This doesn't pose a problem during the day, but it has been interrupting her sleep. But she is also on order to be drinking 3 liters of liquids a day, so I think that also contributes to the frequency.
The thing she is looking forward to the most is traveling across many many states to visit my brother and his family at the end of April. I have volunteered to go with them on this nearly cross country drive. I also have volunteered to do most of the driving. I wonder how that will go with mom's frequent bathroom requirement. Maybe we should pursue this in a Nasa girl, murderous cross country getaway fashion..........
That's right folks, I said she is gaining weight!!! She's always been skinny-minny in her adult life, but she was at that TOO SKINNY point during dialysis. She also has ENERGY!!!!! She gets worn out easily, but at least she has it in her to do stuff, which is why she gets worn out. She hasn't been able to really leave the house yet, she still isn't allowed to drive, and being around the public isn't good for her because her system is still vulnerable. The last thing she needs is to get sick.
Her only complaint, and she doesn't even complain about it, is since she didn't have to urinate for 2 years, her bladder atrophied a bit. So she has to use the bathroom about every 45 minutes. This doesn't pose a problem during the day, but it has been interrupting her sleep. But she is also on order to be drinking 3 liters of liquids a day, so I think that also contributes to the frequency.
The thing she is looking forward to the most is traveling across many many states to visit my brother and his family at the end of April. I have volunteered to go with them on this nearly cross country drive. I also have volunteered to do most of the driving. I wonder how that will go with mom's frequent bathroom requirement. Maybe we should pursue this in a Nasa girl, murderous cross country getaway fashion..........
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
