Illness in the Family
Dec. 19th, 2021 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stickmakerMy mother has been in the hospital since last Friday. They keep finding things wrong with her, but so far have no answer for her long-term gut problem. Except, possibly, that after she had stents inserted over a decade ago no-one thought to take her off Plavix (a blood thinner) after about the standard year.
She is off that, now. She's had multiple blood tests. They performed an endoscopy yesterday to check for a bleeding ulcer, but found no ulcer old or new. She is next supposed to have a liver biopsy to check a mass a CAT scan found Friday, but last I heard that had not been scheduled. If they can get that done today she may be home this evening or tomorrow morning. If they can't get to it today, she may go home this morning and return for the biopsy.
Anyway, she is mostly feeling better. Except she still has occasional bouts of gut pain, which she has been experiencing for months.
So, if I haven't been very responsive lately please be patient.
Update: Mother has been at her home - with someone there 24-7 for at least two weeks - since the afternoon of November 30. She is doing better, at least in part due to being back home. She still has bad days. My sister arrives for a visit on December 8. We'll do a joint evaluation then.
Update 2: My sister had been an enormous help. Not only with what I was doing, but she thought of things which needed doing I hadn't thought about. Haven't had a lot of time to post, lately. Right now, I'm trying to arrange an MRI for Mother tomorrow. Trying to get her COVID booster scheduled today, for sometime next week. Also tomorrow I gotta cancel her tooth cleaning, currently scheduled for Tuesday. Things keep changing. We can't get a firm diagnosis without MRI and Mother's PCG recently had triplets and the office where she works is either not passing messages on or she's not reading them. Picking up "new patient packet" at my doctor's office tomorrow, as well.
Update 3: No MRI. The family decided to stress Mother as little as possible, at least for now. Her main problem - for several years - has been in her gut. That seems to be slowly improving. Partly due to getting her off the blood thinner she was on for far too long, as well as stopping several other medicines. (She also stopped using her CPAP machine, since she had no problems without it in the hospital for several nights.) Partly due to the home care people and hospice working together to make sure she eats better and takes the right pills at the right time. Partly because of the hospice doctor recommending things to treat her gut symptoms, some of which had helped greatly.
She is off that, now. She's had multiple blood tests. They performed an endoscopy yesterday to check for a bleeding ulcer, but found no ulcer old or new. She is next supposed to have a liver biopsy to check a mass a CAT scan found Friday, but last I heard that had not been scheduled. If they can get that done today she may be home this evening or tomorrow morning. If they can't get to it today, she may go home this morning and return for the biopsy.
Anyway, she is mostly feeling better. Except she still has occasional bouts of gut pain, which she has been experiencing for months.
So, if I haven't been very responsive lately please be patient.
Update: Mother has been at her home - with someone there 24-7 for at least two weeks - since the afternoon of November 30. She is doing better, at least in part due to being back home. She still has bad days. My sister arrives for a visit on December 8. We'll do a joint evaluation then.
Update 2: My sister had been an enormous help. Not only with what I was doing, but she thought of things which needed doing I hadn't thought about. Haven't had a lot of time to post, lately. Right now, I'm trying to arrange an MRI for Mother tomorrow. Trying to get her COVID booster scheduled today, for sometime next week. Also tomorrow I gotta cancel her tooth cleaning, currently scheduled for Tuesday. Things keep changing. We can't get a firm diagnosis without MRI and Mother's PCG recently had triplets and the office where she works is either not passing messages on or she's not reading them. Picking up "new patient packet" at my doctor's office tomorrow, as well.
Update 3: No MRI. The family decided to stress Mother as little as possible, at least for now. Her main problem - for several years - has been in her gut. That seems to be slowly improving. Partly due to getting her off the blood thinner she was on for far too long, as well as stopping several other medicines. (She also stopped using her CPAP machine, since she had no problems without it in the hospital for several nights.) Partly due to the home care people and hospice working together to make sure she eats better and takes the right pills at the right time. Partly because of the hospice doctor recommending things to treat her gut symptoms, some of which had helped greatly.
