I arrived to see my mom about 10:30...Shirley was there and had been since about 8:00. My mom said hi to me and recognized me....we all talked and she seemed much clearer than yesterday but still confused about some things. My mom tried to tell me what she ate for breakfast but she couldn't seem to get the words out until Shirley helped her, she ate all her scrambled eggs and a little french toast and a little coffee from a straw. She also tried to tell me her address with a little help. She still thinks that she is home and was trying very hard to convince us that she was. After a little while Shirley headed out to continue her day....I am grateful to have Shirley there, she is very good with my mom.
We are back to wearing a plastic gowns, gloves and a mask until they know what exactly my mom has they want us to take every precaution - I really dislike the mask...and wish the plastic gown had some sort of magical weight loss effect. I have to admit that I have a very hard time with all the waste....if you step out of the room you must discard everything and get new when you come back. So I try not to leave and today I noticed that it helped the staff not waste too much as they could hand me things and I could put them where they go or turn off a button. When my mom needed something I would just ring and tell them and they would happily bring it.
I was there when the doctor came in and he examined my mom and asked her questions....when was she born -she answered correctly with even the year, what month it was - she said October, what year is was - she said 2012, who I was - she said her daughter Michelle. Good answers. I asked him if the test results were back from the spinal tap and she said they were waiting for the pathology to come back but he believed that she has Herpes Encephalitis - so I asked about the treatment plan and he said that they had already started her on the antibiotics for it last night so hopefully they caught it early enough to get her better. I read a bit about it so I am interested to see what the doctor has to say once we get the "official" confirmation from pathology. In the meantime my friend Deborah (clinical nurse specialist) told to make sure they have her on delirium protocol...so I called the hospital tonight to tell them that. They have her bed alarmed so that she doesn't get up OR if she does the bells and whistles for sound. Basically it means that they need to keep a close eye on her. One think I thought was interesting for this protocol was that they are supposed to let her sleep and not wake unnecessarily - she will be happy about that.
She ate a little lunch and a little dinner about 10% of her meal. I hope that increases so that her strength can continue to get better. Now they need to do a physical therapy evaluation and get her up so that she doesn't get stuck in a bed again. Deborah wants me to push that issue tomorrow - I will be interested to see what she is able to do after this lastest set back.
I am interested to see what tomorrow brings...I told the doctor and the discharge nurse that I hope they are in no hurry to send my mom on her way....because my brother and I are very skeptical about the hurried way they move our mom through...I do not want her to leave quickly again...Kaiser hospital needs to keep her extra this time. Our health system is very broken and it is very sad. I only can hope that the people who make decisions would be in our families situation at least once so that they could see the "real" picture.
Thank you for your positive thoughts. My mom seems to be like a timex watch....she takes a lickin and keeps on tickin
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