Monday, December 31, 2007

GREAT NEWS !!!















*Great news this morning.

Mom is allowed to keep the walker in her room and WALK to the bathroom with an aid present !!!!

This is progress. Major Progress!

Three months ago she couldn't get out of bed without a stretcher.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Update #4












Let's summarize.

The storm moved through on December 9th and took away our power for 11 days. (Until the 19th.) Vacation started on the 14th, I was still in the dark for "6" days of vacation -- totally wasted. By the time the power came on I was using holiday leave and not my personal annual leave which is a precious commodity.

In the middle of the power outage mom's MD of 35 years, who is 85, (One year younger than her) closed his practice. He was also sent to Saints' and we learned that he had been admitted in a state of rapid decline and was sent home for hospice care the day before mom arrived. She is morning his lost. She has seen him every 8 weeks for years and they consider each other friends. Belleview gave her to another MD who comes in, but doesn't really know her history. He is a cocky young rooster who tends to piss us all off. I was going to go in to meet with him at 7:30 in the morning (he visits patients on Thursdays and has only seen her twice), but mom just called and said he came in this morning because he is leaving town for 2 weeks and if there is a problem they will call another MD for her. He stayed approximately 2 minutes and flew out before she could even ask any questions about her hospital stay (more in next paragraph), or request a new perscription for Nitro. I am trying to get her with a geriatric specialist who was recommended by the head of that department at OUHSC. While at the hospital on the 24th, I discovered that her nurse had tried to call me on the 20th and somehow my new cell phone had dropped the message. (Can you hear me screaming?)

Two days after the power came on Mom began having chest pains (angina) (Fri & Sat) and was taken on icy roads to Saints' (Sunday) for tests and new meds. (too old for surgery) We have gone from living on the floor (minus 4 days at an overpriced hotel when I got carbon monoxide poisoning) to living in chairs at the hospital. She came back to rehab late Monday (Christmas Eve.) and they had given her room to someone else, packed up all her stuff, thrown out any open bags of anything that was in her drawer, lost her favorite pillow and embroidered pillowcase, suitcase, laundry basket, AND given away her flowers. I spent Christmas eve, and Christmas day screaming at people and making them go all over the facility until they came up with most of her stuff. We were unable to get back the flowers. They had gone home with someone. They'd closed out her records, including her meds which they have to reorder and it takes 24 hours, expecially at Christmas. My bloodpressure shot up and I had to take double pills to get rid of the headache. I've also just been told that ambulance transportation to and from the hospital is going to cost us close to $500, a little under $250 both ways because they used a streatcher instead of a wheelchair (which she was in too much pain to sit in) which would have cost us 2 times $75. It may cost more than that because there is an issue of whether or not Medicare will pay for an ambulance. How the hell do they expect critically sick people to get to help if they can't use an ambulance?

The family has decided to get together at a restaurant "tonight" for a Christmas dinner and a bitching session.

All in all, this ranks right up there with the Christmas of the bologna sandwiches only megga times worse. At this point I just want to get to January and kiss this fuckin' year goodbye.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Update #3



Within moments of launching the last post, the power went out again and stayed off through Wednesday. For two more nights we slept on the floor in front of the fire place. This time with a space heater powered by very long extension cords running across the yard, over the fence and plugged into a neighbor's house. (They, fortunately, had power.)

I think I am starting to get seriously lethargic and depressed. I could never live in Alaska. Extended darkness and lack of light get to me in a really big way. I was sort of surprised at how quickly and powerfully it impacted me.
I don't think candle light will ever feel romantic again.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Update




When the storm moved through Oklahoma last Sunday (8 days ago) It left ice, downed trees, and knocked out power for over 500,000 homes.

My power was out Sunday, on again briefly then off again and didn't come back on again until yesterday (Sunday again)We stayed in the cold dark house with nothing but a fireplace until Wednesday when I got some kind of poisoning from breathing fumes from the gas jets in the fireplace. My husband miraculously found us a room for Wednesday night. (one bed) my daughter and I stayed there for one night. (She contracted the flu and 100-101 temps as of the day before the power went out.) Sent the dog to the vet to keep warm. The vet also had no power, but managed to get a generator to keep the animals warm. We transferred to a different room on Thursday night, when my husband and son joined us. My husband was getting bronchitus. Snow moved in on top of the ice either Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun. I can't remember. The days have blurred together. We stayed in that room until Sunday when our power came back on. How many days is that? I have no idea.

The power is now on (thanks to a team of guys who came up from Houston), puppy is home from the vet. My daughter is better, but still has a cough. My husband is getting worse. After several calls to Cox, we now also finally have TV and internet.

Mom road it out at the skilled nursing center. They lost power for 2 days but had a number of large generators to keep them going. Power was out all this time at my house, my brother's house and my mom's house. It was a difficult situation. The most depressing thing to deal with was the darkness. It was unbelievable how quickly that got to me.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Cross Your Fingers





Mom has had her first good week since the middle of September. Everybody cross your fingers, say a few prayers, and visualize healing energy. (Or anything else you can think of doing. Candles are good.) Therapy went well this week and she is getting cranky. (Okay the cranky part is not so good, but I'm thankful anyway.) This is the first real glimmer of hope I've had since she injured her hip.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Welcome to December





Thanks for all your prayers and concern.
We had a pretty nightmarish week with mom, but the last two days have been somewhat better. I've been practically living at the skilled nursing facility. I've come to believe that she was released from the hospital too early (straight from critical care to rehab) but they were following Medicare regulations--which sometimes suck (pardon my bluntness). My concern now is that she is exhausted. She needs her strength and energy back. My husband has given her a stuffed energizer bunny, like the one in the commercial with the little drum, and told her it was to help her when her own resources felt a little drained.

Keep her in your thoughts.
I love you all.

(In the meantime - here's a lively little jingle to help us keep our spirits up!)

CLICK HERE TO GET A NEW CURSOR!