Today I arrived at about 8:30 to my mom sitting in bed with her breakfast tray still there...I could see she had eaten a good amount of oatmeal - she even told me that she ate "a lot". I asked her how she felt and she said she was very tired. Shortly there after she fell asleep. I gave her a mini-manicure that she completely slept through...I even soaked her hands in warm water worried that she would wet the bed (a trick we did as kids at sleepover - put someone's hand in water and they pee) luckily she didn't. I tried many times to wake her and she would rouse a little but not really wake up. Deborah came by to check on her and was worried that she was so tired, her nurses kept checking on her for the same reason. She assured me that they all were really trying to get to the bottom of all of this. Deborah showed me my moms chart and told me that her blood work showed mild anemia, and the list of different tests that they had done. They have done so many tests which makes me believe that they are really trying to get to the bottom of all of this.
The doctor came by and my mom barely woke up....he asked her where she was and she said "I don't know", so he told her and she agreed with him. He assured me that they would not be rusher her out as he really wants my mom to be able to heal so that she can finally fully recover. She has had 3 major events in the last month and she really isn't even half recovered from the surgery. Deborah said today that she really believes that my mom can get back to a very good place but we both agreed that her body could not take much more of this big events. I just hope they keep her long enough so that she can get on top of this. I remember the surgeon saying that she needed a minimum of 6 weeks just to recover from the surgery not to mention the respiratory failure and the 3 grand mal seizures. Today I ran into Dr. Brawley (her surgeon) in the hall and he was shocked to hear that she was back in there...he said he would go and see her.
As I sat there...I kept thinking about her Co2's and how they were probably climbing upwards accounting for the sleepiness.....about 2:30 this afternoon they came in to take blood for a blood gas...yahoo now we will know. I asked how long it took to get the results and they said about 15 minutes.....her Co2's were high again 68 (norm 35-45) they also said that the ph of her blood was in the normal range meaning that my mom's body has the ability to handle more Co2's then mine could most likely because she does have COPD. I will say that the nurses and respiratory therapists were very attentive to my mom and her sleepiness. I really have been very happy with my mom's care at Kaiser...I also feel much better being there and being able to help out and take a little care of my mom too.
This afternoon Shirley was with my mom and they put her on the Bi-PAP machine again...my mom was not happy to see that machine again. But they wanted to try it for a couple of hours to see how she was..she did it and lasted the 2 hours. Shirley said too that my mom was very sleepy today and they didn't talk too much but my mom would exchange eye glances occasionally. Sonia and her girls arrived later in the afternoon (about 5:00) and my mom was still on the machine. Sonia told me that when they took the Bi-PAP machine off that my mom was very alert and awake and was ready for some dinner. Sonia had frozen Ensure and my mom ate 1/2 of the container....then dinner came and she ate very well. They left her about 7pm and she had just fallen asleep again. At 8:30 I talked to her nurse and said that maybe they should offer ear plugs and a sleeping pill tonight so that my mom would leave the machine on. It will be interesting to see if my mom is different tomorrow after a night of wearing the machine. I know she hates this machine and I know that the one's you can get at home are smaller and quieter.
Thank you again for all your well wishes....until tomorrow...take care
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