September 29, 2014

Discouraging and Encouraging Monday

September 29, 2014

Monday morning my sister, her husband and I all arrived at the hospital early to try to catch the doctors on their visits.  I appologize if some events are out of order but I just did not have time to do blog entries the last few days and now they have all run together in my muddeled mind.  I think it was Sunday morning before I got to the hospital, that Mom's main doctor came in and basically said, "We have tried this, and it didn't work, we have tried that, and it didn't work, we have tried the other and it didn't work.  I don't know anything else to try.  We may transfer you to the nursing facility tomorrow!"  We were not happy to hear that at all.  Her pain was still not being controlled.  My sister had them contact the pain specialist.  

My baby sister, Janet, who has done an awesome job meeting Mom's every need.

Monday, like Sunday, was up and down as they tried to find the right balance of medications to help her.  She had to be off all IV pain medications to be transferred.  The IV meds had been helping and now she was back to trying to find what would help.  The morning was terrible with a very high pain level.  I decided not to return home as planned, but the stay at  least one more day. 

The day was filled with emotions as the encouragement from the doctors had evaporated.  The morning especially was terrible.  By early afternoon they had given her enough pain medicaitions to provide a little relief.  Janet's husband stayed with Mom while Janet took me to see the skilled nursing care facility she had selected.  Again, she had done an excellent job and an added bonus is that it is only 3 miles or so from her house.  The facility is almost new, well staffed, and absolutely beautiful!  The rooms are large, the halls are wide, and there is no nursing home smell that anyone who has visited one can identify. 

 

The dining room is lovely, spacious, and homey.  Staff go to the rooms to bring each guest to the mealtime.  There are activity rooms, outdoor decks overlooking the courtyard, a hair salon, of coursre Physical Therapy areas and a sun room, and a living room with fireplace.  Each individual room is designed for ease and comfort.

Sunroom

The decor and art work are amazing.  It is at least equal to a 5 star hotel.  I think Mom will like it, but will want to come home soon.  The goal is to get her back in her home if at all possible.

 



Due to sunlight on this setting, my photo does not do it justice, but it is lovely.  Most of the art work has a Texas theme and much of it involves horses.  This area of the state has and has had a lot of horse ranches.

We returned to the hospital and in the late afternoon a radiologist came in to say that he would be doing a procedure the next morning.  He had decided that the hip pain was from a nerve in the area of the fractured vetebrae that was being rubbed with a bone fragment.  His goal was to  inject some steroids into the area to reduce swelling and relieve pain.  He said it could help instantly, but could take up to 48 hours to work.

We were back to having some hope.  The radiologist was a very nice man and it was so good to end the day with hope.  Well, sort of.  The nurses later told us they had nothing on their schedules about it and they knew nothing about it. 

Around 8:00 Janet, her husband and I went to Chick-fil-A for a quick supper and then returned to "tuck Mom in" but she wasn't ready to go to bed.  We left around 9:00 and went back home.  It had ben a long day for all of us.