Monday, July 7, 2008

Nursing Home, Ambulance, Hospital, ICU, Sepsis

Well, after the horrible experience of our local nursing home, Mom was moved to Glen Haven. The difference was staggering. There were actually staff members there, along with a knowledge base of what it takes to care for the elderly, and a willingness to do so, the nurses had real assessment skills, they took VITALS, looked Mom all over, and went out of their way to make her comfortable.

The social worker, Denise, is a girl that I worked with and have known for many years, she is a dear girl. She goes above and beyond to make the patients in that facility happy, she gives 110% of herself. Evident in her presence on the 4th of July, she not only was there, she was there ALL DAY LONG, making sure the admission went well, that all of Mom's needs were met, that the staff were all familiar with her surgery, her care, her meds, etc. It totally boggles my mind how different the two homes measure up when compared. The first home isn't even in the same league as Glen Haven.

Mom no more than got settled in the second home than she became diaphoretic (sweaty) and seemed to be in some pain. Her colostomy bag had been empty since being dismissed from the hospital. My baby sister called her Dr. to let him know Mom still had a low grade temp. He wanted her sent to the hospital to be re-assessed. The ambulance ride went poorly. On the way to the hospital, she becmae unstable. The crew saved her life, her Blood pressure bottomed out on the way, they pumped her full of fluids, getting her to the hospital in a timely fashion.

Once at the hospital, she was assessed, cultures taken of everything, and placed in ICU. After a few hours, she was stable, the skin graft covering her rectum and vagina were in question, wondering if that was going to reject. Right now the Drs. feel that the tissue is still healthy and alive. If she loses her skin graft, she is not going to make it, we all know this, and are watching it closely.

The nurses in ICU at Methodist are amazing! I couldn't ask for a better group of caring, compassionate people to care for my mother, they are doing an excellent job.

In the midst of all this, we have Mom's floor torn up in her house, all ready to lay new tile, 10 boxes to be exact. I went to her house after being at the hospital on Saturday and covered the portion of floor we had torn up. It is looking good, when Mom returns she is going to be very pleased.

I broke my eardrum when we put in the bathroom tile, it is killing me, after a week of ear drops. I am going to need a trip to the Dr. again this week, but don't know when. Probably will need a consult with and ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor. Lord help me, I can't hear out of that ear at all right now.

2 comments:

supermom said...

how did you break your eardrum. i didn't know a person could do that! hmmm?

Cindy said...

Fell while standing on a chair while painting Grandma's bathroom ceiling. I was sitting on the floor on my bottom before you could say OUCH!