Saturday, June 16, 2012

Back At Windsor Place

Phyllis is back at Windsor Place. They went to great lengths to give her their very best care. She was moved by ambulance on the air mattress from her hospital bed but Hospice had ordered her in a new bed with an air mattress that inflated and un-inflated with the movement of her body. That is to help to keep her from getting bed sores. Sara, the authoritative aide, got six of them together and they lifted Phyllis from the bed onto the new bed by using the sheet. It worked beautifully. They settled her with a pillow between her knees and one under the broken leg. They are to remove the brace on her leg at night so the skin can breathe. Every twenty minutes one of them is to check on her. They are to turn her every two hours. After breakfast this morning, Bob and I will go out there and see how the night went. The Hospice nurse told us yesterday that she could live for weeks on the water and resources of her body. I don't expect that to happen though. I can imagine her living without food for quite a while but not without water.

I went to bed at 8:30 last night but it was not to be. The phone rang as soon as I got to sleep. For some reason, I was exhausted. It was Richard, the man I had asked to repair the ceiling at the church. He wants to meet me out there at 9:00. He and Jeff, his son, will repair that ceiling again in a couple of weeks. The roof repair was almost a year ago and it has not leaked again. So now we can have the ceiling in the sanctuary repaired.

Then I will go see Phyllis and stay awhile to be sure of her care. At noon, I will come home to dress for the graveside services for the mother of a classmate that I am to do at 1:00.

More later...

Amazing! Out at Windsor, they have been able to get Phyllis to take water. She got 260 ccs yesterday and 140ccs so far today. And...she spoke again. I heard her say "I'm home" last night and today Bob and Sara heard her say "I'm feeling fine."

Maybe miracles do happen. They've taken the brace off. When they took it off last night they found an open sore on her knee where it had rubbed. Now that happened at the hospital but no one told us about it. Windsor medicated it and put a bandage over it. Then they documented it and called Hospice about it and also the hospital.

After the memorial service, I went out to Windsor and talked to Sara. She had been able to get Phyllis to eat one small carton of that high calorie ice cream stuff this morning and was in the process of getting a second one down her when I arrived. Phyllis was swallowing it on her own.

They had given her a bed bath and had changed her gown. She was bright eyed again. The Hospice nurse had given them permission to try to get her pureed dinner down her this evening. She appeared to be alert again. They also managed to get her to drink water from a glass.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Another Day At The Hospital

I spent the day today at the hospital too. My brother-in-law was also there. He left for lunch and the ambulance came to transport Phyllis back to Windsor. She had an uneventful trip.

After my meeting with Rick this afternoon, I will go back out there and see how things are going. Hospice is supposed to bring a hospital bed out to them for her to use.

Scott called this morning and we had a nice visit. Ashley leaves on Monday. They were going to Austria today and then on to Hitler's Eagle's Nest for dinner.

A classmate called me last night to get the number of the local Trinity United Methodist Church. I gave it to her. Her mom had died the day before and she wanted graveside services tomorrow at 1:00. She could not reach him. So I gave her the number of a retired United Methodist minister. She couldn't reach him either. Finally she asked me to do it. I explained to her that my sister was in bad shape and I wasn't sure what the situation would be on Saturday. She began to cry. So I told her I would do it. I located her mom's obit online and printed it off. Then I worked until 10:00 on remarks for the service. It will work out.

More later...

I went to meet Rick at the bank and he was late. I called him and he hadn't left home yet. I went in the bank out of the heat and waited there for awhile. Finally at 2:20, he called and said he was leaving home. I did my part of the paperwork and left. I went back to the nursing home and was there when they moved my sister into her new bed. It has a special air mattress that is to help prevent bedsores. They seem very careful and very attentive to her there. I stayed about thirty minutes longer and heard Sara give six aides their instructions and then left and came home. I was exhausted. What a day! I will meet Bob for breakfast in the morning and then one of us will go check on Phyllis.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Thursday Again

I woke up at 1:30 this morning with the realization that I do not believe my sister should be taken out of the hospital and back to Windsor Place. The only access she has right now for fluids is her IV. When she is back at Windsor Place, she will be dependent on someone to give her water orally and she seems not to be able to swallow anymore. I will go over to Bob's at 7:00 and talk to him about it to decide what he thinks. He is the final decision maker. Depending on her condition, I may take the day off and go to the hospital to sit with Phyllis. Tomorrow she will be taken to Windsor Place if he does not change his mind.

I almost couldn't get back to sleep. At 3:00 I was still wide awake. Finally I got up and took a Benadril tablet. That helped me get back to sleep. Still I feel kind of wiped out this morning.

More later...

I later learned at the hospital that it's an insurance thing that my sister cannot stay in the hospital to die. She's in Skilled Nursing for physical therapy. Since she cannot do any kind of therapy, she must be released to the nursing home and Hospice.

I went to work but then asked my boss if I could just go to the hospital and sit with my sister. They were agreeable with that. I don't know how long she can last with only IV saline solution. She hasn't eaten in two days since she can no longer swallow. My brother-in-law also stayed most of the day. He did go to Independence for his caregivers support group at noon. I thought I would hear from my son, Scott, today. He had e-mailed me earlier that he would call. But he never did. I had my phone with me all day.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Another Wednesday

Today is another work day. After work today I believe the PINCH meeting meets. I will need to ask Marilyn where it meets this time.

Other then that, I really have nothing more scheduled this day. I will have to add more later in the day.

About halfway through the morning, my brother-in-law called me at work. He said he had talked to my sister's doctor and he intends to send her back out to Windsor on Friday. He doesn't think she will get well. This entire trauma has been too much for her. When I got off work I was prompted to go to the hospital. She had changed a lot since day before yesterday when I saw her last. She seems to be having trouble swallowing and has not eaten at all today. That's a bad sign. I really don't look for her to even make it until Friday. I hope I'm wrong but I never saw such a dramatic change.

The doctor talked to Bob about a feeding tube but that would entail surgery. If she pulled it out, she would have to go back into surgery to have it put back in. I don't think she's up to another ordeal. This entire leg being broken has been a terrible ordeal for her. Her sugar was well above 400 today. They are giving her glucose to get fluids into her since her sodium was so high yesterday. That drives her sugar up. This evening she acted like she couldn't swallow at all. Denise couldn't get anything but some sherbet into her. Bob and I talked at noon and we agreed we just wanted her to be kept comfortable.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cakes On Tuesday

I baked my two cakes when I got home from work yesterday evening. I will ice them this morning and later on this morning I will take them to Independence. I will have lunch at Big Cheese. I'll ask Bob if he wants to go with me to help me carry them in. He may not be comfortable leaving town with Phyllis in the hospital. I'll go up to see her this morning before I leave for Independence.

Then after lunch, I will go to work. Tomorrow my social security comes in and I am so glad. I have all my bills scheduled to be paid after it is in my account. Then Thursday I will get my salary from the SER group I work for. That will also be good. I have been nearly out of money for several days.

After work this evening I have my library board meeting at 5:00.

More later....

I took the cakes to Independence this morning and Bob went with me and helped. We ate at Big Cheese then before I came home and went to work.

I made the library board meeting. It was short. Then I came home and mowed. I notice my privacy fence is trying to fall in. Maybe I can get John to take it down. It would cost too much to repair. Evidently the last wind storm finally put a strain on it. It's always something.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Back to Work!

Today I go back to work. It seemed like a short weekend. I didn't get a lot done. I started on my flowerbed on Saturday but by the time I got back from Windsor it was really too late. I started my cleanup but only lasted about 45 minutes before the heat got to me. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the recliner.

Sunday I went to Church School and church. Afterward we ate out at a new Mexican restaurant. I wasn't impressed. Afterward I came home and did my letters and then went to the hospital to see Phyllis. Bob was there and we visited awhile. I stayed about 45 minutes. Phyllis was sleeping peacefully.

I came back home and got ready for Living the Questions group at Jack and Marilyn's. I picked up Gary. We had a good meeting and Jack had made his famous bread pudding. I got Gary back home at 9:00, took my bath and went to bed. I didn't even wake up for my meds. I took them this morning instead.

After work today I will bake my two cakes for the dinner tomorrow evening at the Independence First Christian Church. I will take the morning off to take them to Independence in the morning. I will ice them tomorrow in the morning.

Inky came back this morning. I didn't see him yesterday at all but he was back this morning for breakfast.

More later....

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sunday For Church

Today, given unforeseen circumstances, I will go to church. Bob A. is going too so he will pick me up. We will eat out with the group afterward. Then he will go up to the hospital to see Phyllis.

Yesterday was interesting. A woman whose mother had an accident at Windsor and broke her ankle, has tried to get our family to get the state involved with the investigation into Phyllis' accident. I resent her interference. She called me on Thursday while I was at work right after I had heard from the director of the unit there and encouraged me to contact the state for an investigation into Phyllis' accident. I told her then that I was checking into it myself and had talked to Eloise, who I trust to give me the results of her investigation. I told her I was not interested in pursuing it further because I was satisfied that it was a terrible accident and that it was no doubt caused by carelessness, as most "accidents " are but unless something completely unforeseen developed, that was as far as we were going to go with it. We are concentrating now on getting Phyllis well so she can eventually return to Windsor. We do not want nor need another complication.

She wouldn't let it lie. She contacted the state herself and a woman from the state, came down and had a long talk with Denise, my niece. Denise came by yesterday morning and told me about it. She wanted me to go out to Windsor and get a copy of the accident report. I did go out there to talk to Eloise but she does not work weekends. So I talked to the nurse on duty and told her about this woman's conversation with my niece and interference into the investigation into Phyllis' incident. The woman who contacted me evidently cannot let go of her own mother's incident. That's tragic for her but we don't need her interference and we are trying to concentrate on the immediate concern...getting Phyllis well.

Yesterday Phyllis' blood sugar spiked again almost to 400. We have her back on a regular pain killer for the pain and also now on insulin to try to control her diabetes. Denise goes to the hospital each noon to feed her mother and to be sure she is getting the care she needs. They don't seem to know how to tell how to treat someone who cannot communicate their needs. At least her present nurse doesn't. We have had to insist on a pain killer so she can rest and not be in constant pain. Then we had to tell them that Windsor had given her insulin at bedtime and had managed to keep her diabetes under control with that. On top of everything else, she did manage to pull her IV out. She tends to chew on her wrist or the blanket or whatever else she can get her teeth into.

Lots of concerns.