January 26 – “A mass of medical mess”

 

 

Our day started out with a trip to Houston for Mom's neurologist follow-up appointment.  Cailyn was still with us, so she rode along.  Her and Mom slept the whole way up there.  Wait.  So did I.  So glad Chris was driving.  We were right in the middle of the downpour that came through Houston around noon.  No problems with flooding, though.  When we got there we found out that Mom's supplemental medical insurance had lapsed.  I called to check on it, and hopefully that will be resolved today.  It did mean a bit more out of our pocket than we expected.  That's an easy fix, though.  It's only money, right? 

 

The neurologist did the exam and basically said that Mom has Alzheimer's.  It's just affecting her differently than it did Dad.  He never slept.  She sleeps all the time.  She has slipped further down in memory recall and confusion and balance.  The next step is to increase one medication and add another.  But we understand that what we are looking for at this point is quality of life.  Tough call. 

 

Once we made it back home, we took Cailyn up to UTMB to see her Mommy and Daddy.  Cailyn was happy to see them, but April barely opened her eyes the whole time.  She was feeling pretty punked out.  It was tough getting Cailyn to come home with us willingly.  She was hoping to stay with her Daddy at least.  But he was worried and hesitant to leave April's side, so we made it out OK.  Chris had the idea to text Nathan and give him a message from her.  Her message was sweet, but didn't calm Cailyn down much.  So I took her phone and handed it to Cailyn and told her to send him one of her own.  It took a second or two for that to register, but once she got started she took off, punching line after line of characters onto the screen.  She even occasionally mumbled what she was writing, "Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy.  Mommy sick.  Mommy get all better.  Daddy stay with her.  Doctors see Mommy make her all better."  Finally the mumbling turned to nervous laughter and then to hysterical giggling when I showed her how to push the send button.  I think Nathan got six or eight very strange texts before I got a turn and clued him in on what was happening.  Mine read something like, "Cailyn sends many hugs and kisses to Mommy and Daddy."  That was all I could get in before she took the phone back and began again. 

 

Nathan texted us around eleven that April was being admitted to the intensive care unit, so I hurried back out there.  After the earlier onslaught of every test in the book relating to hematology and cardiology and a few other ologies, the last thing I heard that they were working on before Nathan and I left around 1:30 was that she has some kind of mystery infection that has affected the lining surrounding her lungs (as I understand it, that is the definition of pleurisy).  X-rays showed fluid in that lining and in her abdomen.  Thankfully, the tests did show that there was no involvement with the blood clots she has had a problem with since her teen years (Sounds so long ago, right?  She's not even thirty yet).  The trip to ICU scared them both (Who am I kidding?  It scared all of us at least a little).  Her fever spiked again to 102+, her heart was racing, her oxygen saturation levels were in the low 80's (should be in the high 90's at least), and she was panting.  The rapid response team was called in and they sent her to ICU so she could have one on one care at least through the night, and probably until they discover for sure just what she has.  Once she got there, they were going to put in a central IV line, but couldn't get it in.  They decided to wait until later in the morning to try again if she still needed it. 

 

By the way, the list of places where people are praying for her has grown to 25.  Thank you all so much, and please don't stop.  Spending a few days with Nani and DadDad is great, but Cailyn misses her Mommy and Daddy.

 

Isaiah 53:11 says, "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities."

 

Father, could you also send some extra bearing of pain and illness our way?  It's getting kind of heavy around here.  Thanks.  Amen.