Another Scare!

Well, we got another scare yesterday with Mom. I called to check on her yesterday morning, hoping she was gone to therapy. When she answered, I couldn't understand her at all. What I could make out, she said that she was so weak and afraid that they (rehab clinic) was killing her. She had high temperatures, severe diarrhea and still pain in her shoulder. When I hung up from her, I called her nurse to find out further information. The nurse seemed just as concerned about her condition. She said while I was on the phone with her, Dr. Stewart was evaluating Mom's condition. The anti-diarrhea medicine they were administering into her wasn't working like it should. The nurse went on to say that Mom wasn't able to feed herself because of the weakness and she couldn't keep anything on her stomach. She tried sitting her up and Mom complained that she was getting sick again, so they laid her back down in bed. I knew that if Dad saw or heard about her condition, he would be so upset. I didn't think he needed to go by himself. I didn't know if I should have been too concerned because I haven't seen her in over a week because of sickness in my own family. I didn't want to upset anyone, but I didn't want Dad to be alone either. I called Sue, Maryann, and June to tell them what the nurse and Mom had to say about her condition. None of them were able to go with Dad to the rehab clinic, so June offered to watch Katie while I went with him. I briefed Dad on what I knew about Mom on the way to the clinic. I didn't want him to be surprised.

Walking into her room, Mom was sitting up in her bed with her eyes closed and wouldn't talk to us. I was hoping that she was just taking a nap and having a hard time waking up. So, I just kept talking to her and asking her to open her eyes and talk to us. Every once in a while she would moan or groan. This was scary! I continued talking to her and washing her face. She had a fever, but I don't know what the temperature was. She was so hot that her face was blood red. They put in a suppository for the fever and I kept a cold cloth on her face. She also began to complain about feeling achy all over her body. I asked her if it was the same achy that she felt when she was in the hospital from the first blood infection. She told me yes. During this time, Dr. Adams came in and told us that he would feel better, if she went back to the hospital for Dr. Barnes to check her out. He just felt like there was something else going on with her health that was beyond their control.

In the ER, she had a temperature of 102 degrees and had low blood pressure between 115-118 over 50 (I think). Her heart rate was around 83. A little later, her fever broke and she talked with me a little better than before. I kept my eye on her monitor. I watched her blood pressure drop and drop. I asked one of her nurses, look to be 18 years old with her braided pig tails, if her blood pressure was alright because it's been dropping. She said, "oh, yeah. It's okay. Mine gets that low at times." I was thinking, but didn't say anything. Yeah, but your not 71 years old. As soon as the nurse left, Dad told me exactly what I was thinking. I had to agree with him. Her blood pressure got as low at 88/44 and her heart rate was 69. The graveyard shift came in and the nurse, Bobby, asked me if her blood pressure had been that low all evening. I told her what was going on and she said that it was awfully low, but she would keep an eye on it. It wasn't long after that before the ER doctor came in and told us that he thought it was the pick line in her arm that was causing all of her symptoms. He seem to think there was an infection in her arm from the pick line, since she's had it in her 3-4 weeks. He said the longer she has that pick in her arm the higher the risk of infection. He explained that the pick is a plastic tube and is easy to collect bacteria thus getting infected. Dad remembered later that that was the same arm she has been complaining about her shoulder hurting. Maybe there was a connection. Who knows? The doctor said, he felt the pick line should come out as soon as possible because her blood pressure keeps dropping. He said if her blood pressure doesn't drop any lower than what it was right then, he would leave the pick in and wait for Dr. Barnes to look at it, but if it dropped any more that it was coming out. He told us that they were sending her to ICU for constant monitoring throughout the night. We got to the hospital around 8:00 p.m. and Dad and I left to go home around 1:00 a.m. I think I crawled into bed around 3:00 a.m. this morning.

This morning, June took Nicholas to his heart doctor for more tests. Nicholas told me it was pretty scary because he had another episode and his blood pressure dropped 88/30 (I think). He told me that they wouldn't know anything until next week. When they left his doctor's office, they visited Mom. June said she was in MICU (I don't know what the "M" stands for). The doctor had the pick line taken out of her arm. They were able to get her blood pressure back up and stable. June told Susan that she looked real bad and her face was swollen. She said that a team of doctors were going to come in and see her some time today. I got the MICU visiting hours, phone number and pin# from the hospital and June. I spoke to Dad and gave him all the information, I knew. He said that him and Maryann were going to the hospital during the 1:30-5:00 visitation hours.

I just hope and pray that this will be the end of the infections. She has been through so much. Dad reminded me last night that the 13th of this month marks 3 months from the first back surgery. I can't believe it's been 3 months already and Mom is still going through so much. Dad told me a couple of weeks ago that maybe in a year, if every thing goes okay, he would like to take Mom away up the West Coast. I told him that I thought that would be a great idea.

Thank you for all the prayers!