OP
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,994 |
I have been in denial about my Mom's health and it is time to share.
However, there is no pleasant news.
Mom has been sort of out of it since she was hospitalized last Wednesday, on June 27th. I went up to visit this last Tuesday. She had an anxiety attack and had to be put on a pressurized oxygen mask, which she hated. When I left, she seemed to be doing better, but was still on the edge of being non-lucid.
On Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, she pulled out all her IV's, her catheter, and all the leads to various monitoring devices and tried to leave. They must have got to her before she successfully got out of bed.
All that exertion caused her oxygen levels to drop and they wanted to put on a pressurized face mask and I think she must have resisted because they tried to sedate her. It took twice the normal dose to knock her out. She not only went to sleep, but she stopped moving, which she hadn't done since she was in the hopital. They asked Dad if her feet moved at night and Dad said that they did.
Her white count jumped to twenty-one. When they hospitalized her it had been nineteen. A normal level is eleven. The infection in her system is resisting nearly all antibiotics except for an experimental one that has not be released for public consumption. They had to ask for permission from the FDA to use it. I don’t know what it is.
They put a shunt into aorta to increase the effectiveness of her medicine and to aid in getting better blood samples. Her arms and hands are bruised all over from slight injuries and from attempts to get blood out of her.
They had to place her into a drug induce coma and put her on a ventilator to give her lungs a rest. She should be out for four to five days.
They transferred her to Iowa University Hospital, where her pulmonary doctor is.
Right now we don’t know when, or if, she will be getting out of the hospital.
UPDATE:July 6, 2007
When Mom was admitted on Wednesday morning, her white cell count was at 25, not 21 as I was first informed. With the new antibiotic, it has dropped to 20, as of last night.
The doctor's say it is too early yet to be certain of anything.
Update: July 9
Mixed news today regarding Mom. The doctor keeps saying she's taking baby steps forward, implying that it might be weeks before we see any real progress. Her white blood count eeked up to 19 yesterday. (It had been down to 17.5, but they're still looking for it to go down to 11.) She also met with a team of 3 doctors who are infectious disease specialists--they're looking to see if something was missed, like a fungus.
On the bright side, she's breathing better every day. Her ventilator is a much smarter machine than I'm used to. It can be set to fully breathe for a person or can be set to assist in getting a full breath. Mom's is on the lowest setting now, meaning she is doing most of the breathing herself. She's maintaining her oxygen levels herself, but will stay on the machine until her lungs completely clear.
She's also been taken off the blood pressure medications--breathing well has helped her heart not to work as hard.
She was not taken out of the coma, as we expected. Every morning, they've been bringing her to wakefulness--enough that she moves her legs around, but not enough to become clearheaded. They will not take her to alertness while she is on the ventilator.
Dad assures me that he's doing well, but I know it takes a toll on him. He's spending 3 hours in the car every day (round trip)--that alone is enough to wear someone out. But he doesn't appear to be so burdened with worry.
Thanks for your continued prayers.
Update July 11
Mom was taken off the ventilator yesterday and brought out of her drug induced coma.
She will be there at least another 2 weeks, which will not be fun for anyone. She is worse than having a doctor as a patient.
Update: July 18th
Sorry for the delay, but not a lot has changed.
They still have her in a lightly sedated state and has a ventilator assisting in her breathing. She really doesn’t know what is going on and fights the machines whenever she is fully conscious.
Dad is having a really hard time. He goes up about 3 or 4 hours a day (it’s a little more than 90 minutes one way to get to the hospital) and then comes home and tries to get everything else done. Thankfully, he is retired.
Her white count keeps going up and down. They are having a hard time nailing the infection. They have three new infection specialists assigned to her case and they are scratching their heads.
Update: July 19th
Well, we have mixed news to report on Mom. They have finally located the source of infection that has been causing Mom knee pain; she has a fungal infection in her knee. It is not believed that this is the cause of the systemic infection, but rather the result of the systemic infection. Also, she is being allowed to come closer to awareness, although she is not conscious enough to fight the machines.
However, her lungs are still too weak to breathe without the ventilator. One lung continues to fill with fluid. The doctor says he still has some tricks up his sleeve, but soon Dad will need to make some decisions.
Mom's sister, Ellen, is also in the hospital right now. While her situation is much less dire, it's one more thing for the family to deal with right now.
In fact, this is the first time that Dad has admitted that the situation is tough on him. He doesn't admit to hardship easily, so he must be at his wit's end.
I have been praying that God's will be done, and I thought I had thought through everything. Thinking doesn't take into account for the emotions of reality. 
But, In Roman's 8:26 - 28 it states that ...
Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness:for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Update:2:19am July 24th.
Just arrived at Dad's house about 2 hours ago. Just finished up taking care of business related stuff.
Now for the bad news...
Over the weekend, they finally had an actionable diagnosis and had started the treatment. However, three days later, Mom’s health has not improved and there are new complications.
An air bubble has developed between her lungs outside of the lining and she has reached the point where they need to take her off of the ventilator or risk permanent damage. Dad has agreed to do a tracheotomy to do the work of the ventilator. He also has decided to do nothing about the air bubble, except to monitor it with the necessary equipment ready.
A meeting is scheduled tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1 PM. Dad expects to be asked to make life or death decisions at that time. He has decided in his heart that he will not make any decisions until the family members are present. So that decision may be made as early as Tuesday, if by family, Dad means Cathy and I. If he means Mom’s sisters, it may be Thursday, since some of the family is on the West coast.
I am in Iowa, now, and will not be available by phone. I will be checking email, when I get a chance.
Thank you for all of your prayers,
 update 8:05pm, July 24
It is so much better to be sitting there when the doctor is talking.
Mom is making marginal progress, but she is making progress. The doctor has been telling us that she is making baby steps to recovery, and they were right. She has Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia. An inflammatory lung disease that is only responsive to steroids. However, this disease was a long time forming and will be a long time healing. She could be on the steroids for a year.
Her body seems to be metabolizing the air bubble and will eventually disappear, they say.
The meeting today was to let us know that the prognosis looked better than yesterday and to let us know that a tracheotomy was the best solution to prevent permanent damage to her throat and to limit the possibility of infection. It would also allow them to bring her further up from the drug induced coma.
They took her off of all antibiotics and reduced her pain medication to nothing to start the process of bringing her out. However, to do the tracheotomy, they will have to heavily sedate her again and keep her on painkillers for about two to three days following, so we will be losing about four days on her being returned to consciousness.
We still don’t know if she will return to consciousness, but she shows signs of being minimally aware of her surroundings, but I don’t think she knows we are there.
Dad would like me to stay for the surgery. We are hoping for it to be scheduled this week.
I should be back to work next Monday and will be working after hours to keep the work load down.
Thank you for all of your prayers,
James
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