Mom woke with extreme pain again this morning. Her pain is getting worse, and I really think it's time to go to the hospital. She says she can't sit up in the chairs in the waiting room with her back the way it is (osteoporosis, slipped discs, and pinched nerves...oh, and mild scoliosis). I get it, but doing this every day isn't getting her anywhere. I think she needs to be scoped and tapped. I think they'll find undigested food in her stomach that won't pass and isn't allowing proper digestion/absorption of food and ascites that's pushing on her hernia, which, by the way, is growing quickly. It's now the size of her new favorite fruit - the clementine.
She's still extremely sensitive and highly emotional. She was in too much pain to get her blood test today, and that's when I had planned on filling the scripts that the doc gave us yesterday, so I forgot about them until too late. I'll drop them off tomorrow morning and should be able to pick them up the same day. I'll give the buspar a week to calm her nerves, but she really needs more than that. I called the insurance company, again, and got another half dozen names of therapists who may or may not try to help. So far, all of them have said that she's "beyond their scope of expertise". That's shrinkspeak for "wow, that's a lot of issues/drama/time I'd have to spend...here's my therapist-shaped hole in the door from running away so very quickly." BUT I also got the phone number that providers would call to get hooked up with the insurance she has, and I've already spoken to a doctor that specializes in cognitive rehab to regain some of the cognitive function she's lost and they are very willing to go through the process to get themselves on Mom's insurance and see her. There is HOPE on the horizon!
In other great news, we'll meet the new group of folks next week. This group is a support group of people with autoimmune disorders. Mom's main issues are chronic and painful, and I know liver disease isn't necessarily autoimmune. However, she does have fibro and CFIDS, and her fibro is a big fat deal considering it accounts for a lot of her pain, her low pain threshold, a good portion of her fatigue and a good portion of her depression. She is so very lonely - I couldn't even focus on the office today while the caregiver was here because she wanted attention so bad - and I know she'd benefit from a group of peeps who understand her chronic crappy-feeling and might be able to offer her suggestions to relieve the pain or at least an "I'm there with you in the same craphole" kind of comradery. Now that she has her own email address, I can hook her up with these people (they meet both online and off, how great is that for the whole good days/bad days roller coaster?), and a facebook account, which I know offers support groups and friends on a level she's not had since becoming disabled over 12 years ago. Slowly but surely, she will become an internet addict. Haha. It's good to have goals.
I should probably explain the title of this post. Mom's persistent nausea is such a huge issue. She has zero appetite with it and burps acid all the time. It's horrible. Ginger is known for its anti-nausea properties, and Mom's friend was wonderful enough to give us a few ginger tea bags for her to try. The caregiver suggested chamomile to calm her mind and body, since she's so very agitated, but I know that some herbal teas have interactions with medications. I think I'll use that new app I just got (epocrates) that the new doctor used yesterday and check with interactions before giving her anything like that. But ginger and jasmine tea is good. The not-so-good is that she spilled the tea I gave her, so she burned herself. So frustrating! I know she didn't spill it on purpose, but she refused to put an ice pack on it. Her skin was already so red from it after five seconds and she STILL wouldn't use it. She said it would hurt worse than burning. She said her skin always turns red...I said so does mine when it's burnt. She didn't get the point. I'm going to have to keep an eye on the area for blisters. I have aloe with lidocaine if necessary. And the ice cream? She says she hasn't been eating enough to survive (and I know she's having problems digesting food and that she feels starving constantly, even right after eating, even when simultaneously full), but she ate a whole carton of ice cream in just about a week. That's a lot for her, and a lot for someone with lactose intolerance and a special intolerance to ice cream. It makes her gut hurt more than any other kind of dairy product. I told her no more ice cream. I think she's causing a lot of her own intolerable pain, and that's giving new meaning to being her own worst enemy. I think between the stress, the ascites pushing on the hernia, the ice cream, and whatever's stuck in her stomach, the combination is causing the extreme pain. I think all of that would be solved by going into the hospital, being tapped and being scoped, and actually getting a diagnosis. But here I go again thinking my mother might actually listen to something I say. Silly me.
Today I heard her tell the caregiver, "Amber was right..." I don't know what I was right about, because those were the only words I heard as I came into the living room, but I was celebrating them. The caregiver told me to cherish them, because Mom's never going to admit that again. Wise woman, that caregiver.
If I can get my stuff together and kill this headache, I'll be posting links to stuff we'll be selling. We have a lot of big bills coming up very soon and no way to pay them. But I did find a lot of stuff we no longer need or use in what is slowly becoming an office again. Things like LP records and players, 8 track tapes and players, books, 3D painting/image thingies, legos...so we'll be selling. I also have a few orders due in February, so I have to get those done in a timely manner, but I'm hoping to be able to pull it off without pulling out my hair. For now, I have to go nurse this headache. Even whilst I blog, Mom is telling me how stress is not her problem and that today is something weird where she feels hungry and full at the same time...have I ever mentioned that I hate HE? I think she just stepped on a dog in the laundry room. Yup, she stepped on Shady. I think that's my cue for bed now. Tomorrow is another day.
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