Thursday, February 16, 2017

Transfusion #20

Today Nurse Rowena is Mom's main nurse, with Nurses Sandi & Staci assisting. All the nurses are great with Mom, but she has a soft spot for Nurse Rowena who frequently wears purple, which is Mom's favorite color. Today Nurse Rowena's scrubs also had butterflies on them, another of Mom's favorites.
Mom sleeping through Pat Robertson's 700 Club.

Curtis brought lunch for us today. He went to Ige's Lunchwagon & Catering; we had chicken long rice, shoyu pork, & shoyu chicken. He had to leave early because he had to take his neighbors Clyde & Debbie to the airport; last week he took his neighbors Gordon & Anita to the airport. They are all going to Japan but on different tours; they will get together for one day while they are in Japan.
L: chicken longrice, rice, macaroni salad, & pickled onions; R: shoyu chicken, shoyu pork, & pickled onions; salad & dressing in bags at top.

While at the ATC, I also picked up a case of Boost Breeze for Dad; I wanted the Wildberry flavor but they were out, so we are trying the Peach flavor. I will give Dad the Boost Breeze at breakfast when he gets up to have breakfast with us, on the advice of Wayde, the dietician that consulted with us per Dad's PCP. I used to give him cranberry juice to minimize the possibility of a urinary tract infection; but now having more calories & nutrients is more important for him. (I still give Mom cranberry juice.) Kaiser sells the Boost supplements to members at cost, in addition seniors like Dad get a discount. Winner!

After I put the Boost Breeze in the car, I checked out the little stream that flows under the parking structure. Due to the rains we've been having the stream was flowing; I could see something in the pool. It looked kind of like a crayfish with wings or sort of like a big grasshopper but underwater.
The critter in question is near the center of the photo, just to the right of the grass clump and just above the shadow line.

Today at the ATC, Mom lost her balance twice. Once it was while coming out of the bathroom, she grabbed the doorjambs to steady herself. The other time it was getting back in to the treatment room; she used the bed to steady herself. This morning at home, as she was getting ready to leave the bedroom, she also lost her balance; she reached out for the wall to steady herself. It is looking more like she needs 2 canes in order to get around safely; pretty sure she will not be happy about this.

Mom was also very dehydrated today. Nurse Rowena had a little difficulty finding a good vein because of the dehydration. And this evening she had trouble with constipation. When she broke her rib I was directed to give her senna daily so she would not strain while having a bowel movement; excessive straining could injure her broken rib more. I will check in with Mom's PCP to see if I should increase the senna to twice a day, as well as making Mom drink more water.

Mom was really grumpy today. She was so unfocused this morning while getting ready to go that I ran out of time to put her lotion on, so she was itching more today than she normally does. Nurse Rowena gave us some lotion from the hospital. I tried to get Mom to put it on everywhere that she was scratching, she complained that it was impossible to put the lotion on the same spot that she was just scratching! Putting lotion on before she itches is much better.

While we spent the day at the ATC, David, Randi, Sarah, & Kaia went to the beach at Magic Island. Sarah had a Swimways Spring Float Baby Beach Tent Canopy for Kaia. It's a great flotation safety device for babies. It also allows moms & dads to relax a little since they don't have to be holding baby in the water.

Later David, Randi, & Sarah went to Fort Ruger Market to get Hawaiian food for dinner tonight. We had laulau, kalua pig, lomi salmon, tako poke, ahi poke, and poi for dinner. For dessert we had Holy's Bakery coconut pie, haupia, and caramel cinnamon toast crunch ice cream from 8 1/2 Desserts.

David also got the Wii to work. He also checked out the Wii Fit and Balance Board, both are working as well as the Wii Sports disk. I will contact Mom's PCP to see if she has any recommendations of exercises to start Mom out with on the Wii.

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