 |
| Your next stop ... the Twilight Zone. |
This morning Mom had an appointment with her oncologist, Dr. Chan; she has a check-up every 2 months. But shortly after 7, I got a call from AJ, one of the oncology nurses. Dr. Chan was out sick today so Dr. Nguyen was going to see Mom. I was trying to get Mom out of the house by 9 am for her 9:40 appointment so I could make a quick check on Dad. Unfortunately Mom had trouble focusing on getting ready, she thought sweeping the floor was more important; she also kept looking for Dad. We finally left about 9:25 am and got there about 5 minutes after her appointment. While Curtis wheeled Mom in, I went to check her in. Then we had to wait for an opening when Dr. Nguyen could see her; Curtis had to leave for a 10 am meeting.
Even though Mom was the cause, she did not like waiting for Dr. Nguyen; she wanted to see Dr. Chan. In spite of that, Dr. Nguyen was very nice to her. And she had a great check-up! Dr. Nguyen said last January was the last normal blood counts that Mom had, but in hindsight she was showing early signs of the acute myeloid leukemia. He said only about 10% of elderly people with AML survive a year.
I asked Dr. Nguyen about the 10 to 23 days average between Mom's transfusions. He said it was just a side effect of the life cycle of red blood cells and not to focus on it. He said red blood cells live for 120 days when they are made by the body; when they are transfused, they last 2 to 4 weeks. Dr. Nguyen said they will continue with the weekly blood tests and transfusions as needed. He said the main thing is to keep Mom from getting infections; he was pleased with how we have been caring for her wounds with the Mepilex Ag, Medi-Honey, etc.
After we were done, we went to visit Dad in the Clinical Decision Unit (CDU). The only thing they do in the CDU is monitor people to see if it is safe for them to be released. For Dad they did a CT scan testing every 4 hours to track what was happening with the subdural hematoma. We arrived about 11:30. Besides a change of clothes I also brought Dad some Nutter Butters! He was very happy!
I found out Dad needed to have another CT scan so I ordered lunch for him, then Mom & I went to the cafeteria and picked up our lunch. Dad had a hamburger with milk and ice cream, Mom had roast beef with mashed potatoes and peas, I had a Philly cheese steak with coleslaw. Dad ate almost all of his burger, Mom raved about the mashed potatoes, I think the coleslaw was the best part of my meal.
 |
| Lunch at the Ristorante CDU! |
 |
| The coleslaw was the best part of this meal. |
Mom is a terrible visitor, she complained almost constantly while we were there. One of her biggest complaints was about being cold, but when I offered to get her a warm blanket she said she wasn't cold. I finally overrode her and got a blanket, which made her warm but gave her something else to complain about (me making more work for the nurses & laundry people). She kept wondering why we were there visiting Dad, I kept telling her I wanted to check if he was going to be released today. She kept saying we should have called before we came, she forgot that she had a doctor's appointment this morning. She also kept complaining about why the doctor and nurses and other staff did not show up immediately.
Dr. Chawla came in about 1 pm and told Dad his last CT scan showed that all the blood had been reabsorbed, which was great news! She said the last thing Dad needed to do was meet with the physical therapist, if he could safely pass those tests he could be discharged. While we waited for the physical therapist, we had unexpected visits from a couple of people. One was the chaplain, the other was Wayde, the dietician. The doctor had noticed that Dad lost 10 pounds over the last year so she asked Wayde to stop in. He asked about Dad's eating habits and ended up recommending Boost, which is similar to Ensure but more economical to add more calories to Dad's diet. Kaiser carries Boost at their pharmacies and the Moanalua cafeteria and sells it at cost to make it easier for members to purchase. He brought us some samples for Dad to try.
Tanya the physical therapist also came by about 2 pm. Tanya's tests were the last one that Dad had before he could be cleared for release. She had Dad walk around the floor with a walker, go up & down a few steps, and walk with a cane. I told her Dad had an appointment with the VA physical therapist tomorrow to get fitted for a walker; she was very happy to hear that. Dad passed all of Tanya's tests, she told Dr. Chawla, and Dad was discharged about 3:30. And Mom was very happy! But it was disturbing to me that during the time between leaving Dad's room and driving the car up to the pick-up area, she forgot that he had been in the hospital at all!
When we got back I was so tired, I took a nap; so did Mom & Dad. I woke up around 6 pm and checked in on them; neither of them was hungry so we skipped dinner and I let them sleep. Today I had originally planned on making whole wheat rolls for Aunty Judy because she likes them; obviously that all changed when Dad fell. So I began making them when I woke up. Mom wondered why I couldn't make them earlier in the day or tomorrow; she didn't remember that we had spent a good portion of the day at the hospital and I need to take Dad to the VA tomorrow.
About every 6 weeks or so, I go through Mom's purse and check around her chair for used face masks. No matter how many times I tell Mom that she needs to change the masks so bacteria don't grow on them, she still insists on saving them to use later to save money; she doesn't understand that she needs to avoid getting an infection. I have decided not to argue with her, I just find them and get rid of them. Here's tonight's find.
Happy Birthday to Karen, Gloria, & Barbara!
No comments:
Post a Comment