April 10 – “Connections”

As expected, we returned to the hospital and went straight to the ICU to check on Mom.  We snuck in as we usually do when one of the staff members used his badge.  And not as expected … Mom wasn’t there.  We didn’t see any of the nurses she has ad, so we quickly snuck back out to the phone and called in as if we had just arrived.  They told us that Mom had been moved to the 9^th floor.  That wasn’t the geriatric floor that we had been told was her next stop, but we assumed that was because there weren’t any available beds.  So instead we arrived on … the cardiac floor.   So had something else happened heart-wise?  Chris was pretty upset that they hadn’t called us. 

We did find the room, and we gave Mom her purple hat and hearing aid and clip-on sunglasses.  She was ecstatic.  Had to have them all on right away.  That made for quite the hospital picture.  Her speech was slurred and very high-pitched though.  And she seemed very uncomfortable and even scared.  We talked to the nurse, but he didn’t know anything other than he had a hard time getting her to eat breakfast.  She had arrived before he came on duty.  He was a pretty nice guy.  I overheard the lady in the next room telling her visitors that her “nurse has a son named Nathan,” so the next time he came in, I asked him about it.  Stopped him dead in his tracks.  He wanted to know how I could know that.  I Stayed cryptic and told him, “I have my ways.”  Won us a friend, though.  He returned later and showed us lots of pictures.

The geriatric team finally came in a few hours later and did an exam.  The faculty doc did an exam and felt a lump on her abdomen that was very tender.  That combined with slowly falling hemaglobin count led to an order for a CT scan.  All the concerns other than the infection seemed to be resolving themselves.  Heart enzymes are getting better.  Hip pain is inflammation – basically bursitis.  And if a room opens up on the 10^th floor she will be moved there.  That was my question.  The rooms up there are geared to geriatric patients and they are much nicer. 

They have to keep her in the hospital until the blood culture comes back negative for the infection.  After that she will get 15 more days of antibiotics along with skilled nursing and physical therapy.  So when she leaves the hospital it will be for rehab at the Meridian.  They will set all that up.  He also made it clear that she probably won’t reach the same level she was on before the event.  That has been the case after every urinary tract infection she has had, so it wasn’t news to us.  This time, though, it means that we probably won’t be able to care for her at home.  Tough words, especially for Chris.  She’s dealing with a lot right now.  Mom.  Jerry.  Her Dad.  A visit from Teri who is going through much the same things with her parents was just what Chris needed though.  They hugged and shared horror stories.  Oh, and they are both nurses as well.  Connections.

Occupational Therapy came and sat her up on the side of the bed.  She even stood up - for about three seconds.  Totally wore her out.  Her best friend Betty and Betty’s daughter Liz came to see her, too.  That was particularly special to her.  Betty is one of the few people she has remembered throughout her ordeals.  As they were leaving Liz said something about her being one hot mama.  Mom responded with one word: “Smokin’”.  Atta girl.

1 Timothy 6:11-12 says, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.   Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Father, once again I thank you for that smokin’ hot Mama you gave me.  Thanks for loving her even more than Chris and I do.  Amen.