Long story short, Mom became delirious and couldn't walk, open her eyes, or even follow commands like "walk", so I called 911 Monday. She was admitted with what appeared to be a severeUTI that was bordering sepsis.
Yesterday's word was that she has an infection, but they don't know where. They ran a few tests, but still didn't give her any meds for her liver.
This morning she was told it is actually a minor bout of pneumonia, though it affects her to the point of hospitalization. This infection is so small that they can't hear it with a stethoscope. They had to find it on a cat scan of the lungs, and it's just a wee bit on the very bottom in the back of the left lung. I find this odd considering that she has been complaining of pain in the right lung (although she was grabbing her arm pit, so I didn't connect it). The pneumonia seems to be from her aspirating in February during the EGD. The doctors either didn't know or didn't tell us, and I'm still waiting for a report. Aspiration is basically a long word for the accidental deposit of gut fluid into the lungs. Very acidic and very dangerous. She is lucky to be alive.
The doctor tried to discharge Mom today, but she isn't well enough to be home yet. She still can't swallow half of the time, and has more delirious moments than "her normal", and they expect her to take antibiotics at home when I tried to tell them (1) she can't swallow pills without choking, and (2) she gets combative and hostile when she is in one of those moments. I'm afraid she'll get just as bad as monday again and we'll end up right back in the ER. I tried explaining this to the doctor, but it seems that once a decision is made, the discussion is closed.
I filed a grievance with her health insurance and medicare, so she is hospitalized until at least friday pending medicare's decision. I don't know how her insurance works, so I don't know what to expect there. I'm hoping she is more clear headed by friday, or that they keep her until they figure out why she is crazier than usual. It is so frustrating and infuriating to have her ignored as a patient and myself being dismissed as a caregiver. Nobody listens to me or her, she doesn't get the treatment she needs and deserves, and it's hard to maintain a calm demeanor and be respectful of medical professionals who do not reciprocate, but freaking out and yelling or tossing around threats does not motivate them to help her. I've been quite calm and respectful today, though I don't believe they deserve it, and I'm proud of myself for that. My mom deserves for me not to piss everyone off and have them take it out on her.
I do have to say that Art at Juice It Up is her current hero and the night nurse, Nurse Katie, has been awesome the entire time. I wish I could say the same about the rest of the staff. She has been denied meds even though they had me bring them from home. The first two days seemed promising for treatment and diagnosis, and now I fear they, too, have given up on her and have washed their hands of her.
I'm trying to keep her spirits up and tell her it will be okay. I'm passing out brochures for the liver life walk with mom's card attached in hopes some of them will walk or donate or join team kathy. It's rough and, franky, scary to have her so close to the end. She easily could have died when she aspirated, as well as having an infection advanced enough to cause sepsis. We are very lucky. Her guardian angel is tired.
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