Slow Motion

It took a very long time to get Mom a room in the hospital wing. While she was waiting she had a platelet transfusion in the ER; that was #24. Dr. Yamagata came by around 2 am to examine Mom and admit her to the hospital wing; she was finally moved around 4:15. I left the hospital around 5 and got to sleep around 6 am; the cats were very confused by my actions. I was hoping to get some good sleep but the Kaiser pharmacist called about 10:30 to verify what medications Mom was still taking and when she had taken them last since Mom was unable to tell her that.

Sunday is the day that I empty all the rubbish cans since tomorrow is garbage day. And I remembered to toss everything on shelf #4! Including the banana bread; it was from December 2013 so I didn't even bother opening up the package. Reorganizing will have to wait until another day.

Wow! An empty shelf!

I didn't think I had much to do but I washed dishes, vacuumed, checked on Dad for breakfast and lunch, and ate lunch. Then I checked for Momo at the Humane Society, did the grocery shopping, and made dinner for Dad. I also took a shower and washed my hair. I must have been moving very slowly because it was 4 pm by the time I left the house; which I didn't realize until I got to the hospital and saw Aunty Judy while she was leaving. Lori was already there when I arrived.

Mom's room this time is on the 5th floor; it has a terrible view. It is so high up and so close to the main building that you can't even look down and see the ground when you are standing at the window. We miss the view of the rainbow eucalyptus trees.

Mom gets to look at the roof of the main building from her bed.

Looking down from Mom's window you can see the trees & the reflection of the trees & the Ewa Tower in the windows of the main building.

On the screen shot from Google Maps below, the arrow is pointing to the approximate location of Mom's current room; she is in the Ewa Hospital Tower. (The ER is on the 3rd floor of the Ewa Tower; the driveway to the ER is the funky shape at the left side of the building.) The building connected to the Ewa Tower at the right is the Ancillary wing; it's also shown in the evacuation map below. Mom's previous room was immediately south (makai) of the Ancillary wing in the funky shaped building that the words "Medical Center" are on. Mom's room was on the right (east or Diamond Head) side near the upper corner of the building; you can just barely make out the connecting walkway to the Ancillary wing where the Sunrise Cafe is located. I checked out the construction that was taking place outside Mom's previous room, but with the angle of the light I could not get a good photo; there is a concrete pad where the tree used to be.

Screen shot from Google Maps.

This is the best I can do to orient the evacuation map to the Google Map so you can see how the buildings come together.

When Curtis came back to the hospital he told me that Islands Hospice had contacted him. In his brief discussion with them and a Kaiser resource person, it looks like Mom may get her wish to die at home. We will be meeting with them tomorrow to discuss details and figure out how to get things done. Even though we had never discussed it before, Curtis & I are on the same page when it comes to end of life care for Mom. This morning when I got back from the hospital, before I went to bed, I spent about 15 minutes pacing off the living room to see whether we could easily rearrange it to install a hospital bed and what the best configuration would be to give her a good view. I will take measurements tomorrow to be sure everything can be accommodated.

I decided to eat dinner at the hospital so I would have less dishes to wash when I got home. I tried their Wild Rice Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with steamed vegetables. It was not that great, the wonderful portobello flavor was missing and the mushroom itself was very flat. It was more like Wild Rice Sitting on a Flat Portobello Mushroom. I should have listened to Curt's recommendation and had the Local Favorite dish, Hamburger Steak with mashed potatoes and gravy.


When I returned they were starting Transfusion #25, a unit of packed red blood cells. They have been infusing an antibiotic since she was in the ER. These are 2 of the things they will be doing for Mom; the other is pain management. Interestingly, even with all the stuff that shows up in her lungs on the x-rays, she says she doesn't have any pain when she breathes. The main thing she complains about is her back itching!

On the way out I looked for the cats and was not disappointed. I saw 2 of them near the entrance and 1 on the other side by the stream. (Apologies for the blurred photo. I was so tired as I was leaving I forgot to check to make sure it was in focus.)


Happy Birthday to Laura & Alina!