Baptism at our new house

I spent last night with Mom and she had a good night.   No one bothered us during the night until 4am, which is actually good.  Mom is quite weak and couldn't seem to walk more than a few feet last night.  But that may have been because yesterday, during the day, Mom had a procedure done where they removed liquid from the sacs around her lung.  She went through the procedure with flying colors and I was so proud of her!  She seemed to feel less pain afterwards but she was kind of groggy and remained that way through the night.  She did eat a little bread and turkey and some apple sauce that evening.

Today, Guillermo came to the hospital with breakfast for the two of us - Mom had already eaten hers.  She ate almost everything - pancakes, the cream of wheat, the peaches and the hot tea.  In the morning, she was taken down to imaging for some xrays.  She wasn't as groggy today and seemed a little more alert even though she still did seem very tired.  We skyped with Aunt Mirli and with Andrew during the day.  At least twice I encourage Mom to sit up - to change her position from just lying in the bed.  So once she sat for quite a while in a chair in the room and another time she sat on the edge of the bed - even standing for a while by the edge of the bed.  Brian, the nurse who was so kind to her when she first was admitted came by twice to see how she was doing and to say hello to her.  He does this even though she is not on "his side of the hall".  I can tell she is always happy to see him.

Guillermo and I left the hospital around 2:30 and went to pick up his truck from the garage even though it is still not fixed.  He'll need to bring it back when a part that they are waiting for comes in.  Anyway, from there we went to storage and took out several things to take to our new house.  As we left storage, Guillermo went in one direction and I went in the other - it was a test to see which way would work the best.  I ended up getting to the house first and what a shock I found when I opened the garage door.  There was water on the inside of the garage on the left hand side.  So, I walked to the door to the kitchen, was relieved to see it was unlocked and I thought I heard water.  Sure enough, there seemed to be a leak coming from the hot water pipe for the washing machine.  I turned the faucet to stop the water but instead of cutting off the water, it made the water flow even faster!!!  I was floored.  All I could think to do was to get that water turned off but had no idea how to do that so I went across the street and knocked on those people's door and asked if they could help me.  They came out quickly and tried to cut off the water at the street and by this time, Guillermo showed up.  He was just as shocked as I was.  Their first attempt at cutting off the water didn't work so they went back to the main to try something else.  By this time, though, the entire floor in the laundry room was covered in water.  It was unbelievable.  Fortunately, none of it got into the house itself.   Tomorrow a plumber is coming out to look at the situation.......

Good and not good

Yesterday, Wednesday, November 28th.

The good about yesterday is that Guillermo and I did our final walk-through of the new house we are buying.  We are one day closer to having a new home.
The bad is that Mom was admitted back into the hospital.  The pain on her side was something her home health nurse said needs to be addressed and that we should make an earlier appointment for her to be seen, and not wait for her scheduled appointment.  So, that's what we did and since her regular doctor is "off" right now, she had to be seen by the "on call" doctor.  He said she has about a liter of fluid in her lungs and needs to get that drained so that's why she is back in the hospital.  Linda spent Tuesday night with her and said that Mom had a bad night because of that pain on her side.  Ben spent Wednesday morning with Mom until Kathy got there around 12:30 or so.

Today, Thursday, November 29th

Today, Guillermo and I close on our new house.
Kathy spent the night with Mom in the hospital and said that Mom had a rough night - Kathy probably did too.  Mom should be getting that procedure done today some time.

Catch up

So the first of our Christmas lights are up!  Not on a tree or anything, but draped on the counter by the kitchen sink. They look great!    And yesterday, when I was with Mom, we listened to Christmas music through my laptop for a long time.   I like Thanksgiving and everything, but I'm always glad when it's over because then that means it's time for all things Christmas!  Which to me is the best time of the year!

Guillermo and I were looking forward to going out today to order a few items for our new house.  We knew the stores we were going to go to and what we were going to buy.  We got dressed to go out, even went out the door and locked it.  But the air was cold and Guillermo started coughing so I said, "Nope, we are going back in.  We're not going anywhere."  And it's a good thing we didn't.  He spent a lot of time resting on the couch.  It was exactly where he needed to be, and not going from store to store.  He has two more antibiotic pills left to take, and then we'll probably go to the doctor again on Monday because at this point, it doesn't look like those antibiotics have knocked out whatever it is he has.

Making progress

Spent the day with Mom today.  Kathy and Chris were there when I got there in the morning and the nurse was just leaving.  Mom is slowly getting better - today I noticed how well she can walk around while using her cane.  It used to be that she would use the cane, and also try to hold on to anything that was nearby with her other hand.  Today I noticed her using the cane and walking quite easily and not looking for the next thing that she could hold on to.  That's a nice improvement!  Good for her!!

She and I had a good lunch and spent part of the afternoon looking at pictures on my laptop - pictures of the place in Sweden where Eva's parents live and we also looked at pictures from past trips we took with her to Calgary, Canada when we went to visit Fernando and Eva for their Canadian Thanksgiving.  We had a nice time recalling those wonderful memories!  Linda came after work and she is going to spend the night with Mom tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guillermo and I had a nice peaceful Thanksgiving day.  We were going to go to Cracker Barrel to enjoy our Thanksgiving there, but last night we decided that we'd go to the store early this morning and pick up a chicken and a few other things and make a Thanksgiving meal ourselves here at home.

It was a good decision.  The roast chicken came out delicious, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, whole wheat rolls and juice and wine.  We sat by our big window that looks out over the hill country and enjoyed the meal, the view and also the football game on TV.  I made a pumpkin pie but we have yet to cut into it - we are still too stuffed!!!

We talked with Rebeca in the early afternoon and later that evening chatted with Fernando on the computer.  It was a very nice Thanksgiving Day!

Yesterday and today

On Sunday, I went over to Mom's house in the late afternoon to find everyone (except Jacob) trying to get some rest.  Mom was asleep and Linda was on the couch TRYING to get some sleep.  Sorry, Linda!

Anyway, Kathy spent last night with Mom and she said it was a decent night - with Mom only getting up a few times.  The nurse and physical therapist also came by during the day.

Shortly after I got to the house, Linda went home and Kathy came back with a freshly baked pumpkin pie which was so delicious. Then I left to pick up a rotisserie chicken, broccoli and fruit for supper and we had that along with mashed yams.  Mom needed a little help walking to the kitchen but she did really well.  She ate everything and seemed in good spirits.  She, Kathy and I visited a while there at the table and then it was time for Kathy to go home.  John came in later that evening and just in time put on the new shower head and turned on the gas heater.  I say just in time because right before he walked in, Mom was getting ready to take a shower with the old shower head and with only one heater on.  So, it all was good.  Mom had a good shower although I was scared the whole time because all it takes is one misstep to take a fall.  But we took it really really slow and I know Mom felt refreshed and with renewed spirits after her shower.

John spent Sunday night with Mom.  He said it went well, with Mom again getting up a few times.  The next day John and Carlos started building some very nice railings on the ramp that leads to Mom's backyard.

So, it is Monday and I did not go over to the southside at all today.  First time in over two weeks.  I felt like I had been given a gift and the day was used as best as possible.  First and foremost was taking Guillermo to the doctor.  This was a follow up visit that Health Clinic on Saturday said we should do.  The doctor today said that the meds he got from the Health Clinic on Saturday were good, but she was going to prescribe two more medicines to help with all the stuff he has in his lungs.  And that he needs to go back to see her in two weeks.  Guillermo feels better but every now and then he feels like he relapses when he has coughing fits.  The latest medicine he got is a cough suppressant so that should help a lot.

We also took advantage of this day to take Guillermo's truck in to the garage because the clutch has been acting weird.  So we left the truck there and then we took his desktop computer in to be repaired but when he tried to show the tech how the computer was behaving, the computer did absolutely nothing of what it had been doing at home.  It acted perfectly normal.  So, we wrapped it back up and took it back home.  We also went to a mattress store to look for some mattresses for when we move into our new house.  We also bought a non-slip rug and bathtub mat for Oma, went to the Post Office for stamps and went to Cricket to re-activate my little USB modem.  I also made several phone calls to community resource places that deal with the elderly.  We got so much done today that we hadn't been able to do for quite a while!

Mom is home again

The hospital took SOOOOOO long to discharge her, by the time we actually left the hospital it was about 7:20pm.

But anyway, Mom is back home and she seems to be doing a whole lot better than when we brought her home the last time.  She doesn't seem to be in any pain, she seemed in good spirits and the only thing really that I noticed was that she seemed tired.  But maybe that will get better now that she'll be able to get a good night's sleep in her own room in her own bed.

Kathy is spending the night with her tonight.


Guillermo is still not feeling well, so this morning, we went to the Texas Med Clinic where they declined to see him because they didn't take his insurance.  He was disgusted and said he just wanted to go home, mainly because we didn't know where else to go.  So, I took him home and then I went back out to go to HEB to pick up a few food items.  While driving into the HEB parking lot, I noticed a Health Clinic in the nearby building so I looked to see if they were open and they were.  I went in and asked if they took Guillermo's insurance and they said they did, so I went back out to the car and called him.  We agreed to meet in front of the Health Clinic place.
So, I met him there and waited with him a little while for the doctor to see him.  But then we decided that my time would be better spent going ahead and getting the groceries from HEB and taking them back to our apartment.  And he would call me when he was done with the doctor.  The doctor gave him 3 prescriptions because he said he has a lot of stuff in his lungs.  Guillermo drove back to the apartment and I went out to Walgreen's to get his medicine.  Here's hoping that antibiotic starts working soon.

Not going home

When I got to the hospital this morning, there were like 4 people attending to Mom.  Apparently her heart rate had gone up again so they were trying to do something about that.  It was all made worse by the fast that they tried to give her a new heart medicine through her old IV line, but it had become disengaged and so the fluid didn't go into her vein, it went into her skin or something.  That was when they noticed that the IV line was not right.  So, they started a new IV line in her other arm.  You could tell she was in pain when I walked in.  First of all from the pain of being poked with a new IV  line, and then from the pain of the medicine under her skin instead of in her vein on her other arm.  So, bottom line is she is not going home today because of the new medicine which they have to monitor her for.

Her right arm hurt all morning where the medicine had gone in the wrong place.  What has to happen is that liquid will be absorbed by the body and eventually the pain will go away.  I'm writing this at 2:30pm and Mom is sleeping.  But she told me before she went to sleep that her arm is feeling better.  That is good.  Hope it is still feeling better when she wakes up.

I've been dealing with Mom's case manager all day because I wonder about the wisdom of sending Mom home and there has been nothing done at home to make the place safe for her.  There is talk about sending her to rehab but everyone here seems to feel she is doing too good to be sent to rehab.  I just don't know.

Today, when I got to the hospital, Mom didn't seem to be as upbeat as she was yesterday.  She told me she didn't have a good night, that she felt nauseous.  She seemed to get better after lunch, though.  And also, after lunch, she took a good shower and washed her hair again which made her feel really nice.  Then it was time for her walk with the physical therapist.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with social security and blue cross blue shield trying to figure out what benefits are available to her.  Mom is supposed to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and in my opinion, she isn't ready to go home seeing as how there is nothing in place that will help her at home.  Such as a walker to help her walk around, a shower chair, and such items.  There is a lot to think about.......

Small sign of improvement!

Mom looks much better today.  She still complains that her eyes feel so tired, but other than that, she seems more alert and I don't know, her face just looks better!  She did a good walk with the physical therapist this morning.  She hasn't been on oxygen all day and her oxygen levels are good so she doesn't seem to need any additional.  As I'm writing this, she is eating her lunch and watching Obama in the Presidential News Conference.  Let's just hope she continues to get better and better.

yesterday and today

Yesterday I got to the hospital at around 8:45 and Mom was sitting in bed having breakfast.  She seemed to be doing fine and she seemed to be in decent spirits.  The day was quite busy.  I talked with her doctor - Doctor Calle who said he understands we were told that the Pulmonary Embolism caused her Atrial Fibrillation but he didn't agree with that.  He said she already had the Atrial Fibrillation and then the Pulmonary Embolism came into play.  Who knows.  Whatever.  At least someone came up with the Pulmonary Embolism which seemed to also be in line with what she was experiencing.  She had Physical Therapy twice, got a nice bath and her hair washed (at my prodding - amazing that the hospital doesn't do this on their own), in the evening had a sonogram done on her legs and of course there was the usual in and out of various medical personnel.  They told us that she would probably be moved to the regular the next day.

So, today is Tuesday, November 13th.  Mom is doing fine but she does seem a little more tired today than she did yesterday.  The doctor has not yet been in today.  When I got here Mom was eating breakfast, grudgingly.  But she knows she should eat so she does a pretty good job of getting the stuff eaten!  When it was time for the physical therapist to take her for a walk, she was too tired to go.  So the physical therapist said she would be back later that day.  She is still on oxygen.   At around 11am or so, Mom was moved out of Intensive Care back up to the regular floor.  Which is a good sign.  We got her settled in her room and then her lunch came which looked to be one of the better lunches she has had in a while - grilled chicken sandwich.
Mom also wanted to take a shower but just didn't feel up to going through all that hassle.  In the meantime, I ran to Walmart to buy some shampoo just in case she felt up to it later on.  Fortunately, a time came up in the afternoon where she needed to be taken to the bathroom and so I suggested that she just go ahead and take a shower then, since she was already up and the nurse's aide was there to help her.  She agreed that would be a good idea so she got her shower in!  She felt so much better after getting a "real" bath.  Getting your hair "dry-washed" just isn't the same, so knowing she had nice clean WET hair lifted her spirits!   I talked with the doctor today about getting some medical equipment for when she goes home, and he said he would order some for her.

Another diagnosis

I haven't visited Mom yet today, but Linda texted me this morning saying Mom has a new diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism.  This seems more in line with what she is and has been experiencing.

I will be visiting her in a couple of hours......

So, my visit with mom was good.  She seemed in decent spirits - was sitting up when I got there and was able to talk so much better than yesterday.  They are giving her oxygen so that may be helping her a lot.   I had been wondering why they weren't giving her oxygen so it was good to see that they are finally doing that.  She still is quite tired but I'm sure she's not getting good rest in the hospital.  She is not allowed to walk around at least for today because of the fear of maybe another blood clot being let loose.

Linda was there when I arrived and she left a little while later to go pick Jacob up from Killeen.  The rest of the time, Mom and I looked at Zell on the computer, I read her a story about mothers and I recorded a little bit of her talking about Christmases in Austria and England.  On the TV in her room, there are loops for relaxation videos which show beautiful scenes with calming music.  She really enjoys having those on and looking periodically at the beautiful scenes on the TV.  Kathy came later to take over for me and then I went home.  Guillermo himself isn't feeling well either.  We both got our flu shots yesterday and while we both have sore arms, it looks like Guillermo got a little sick from his shot.  Nothing that a little Zyrtec doesn't fix!  He's done a lot of resting today and taking it easy and seems to feel a little bit better this evening.

In case you are interested, below is the link to Zell am See, Austria that I keep open on my computer all day long and which Mom loves looking at every day.  The lake you will see on the web cam is approximately 7 miles away from the town of Fusch that Mom and her family lived in.  Fusch is further into the mountains.  On the two little green hills in the foreground of the webcam, sometimes there are cows on those hills so we love looking to see if the cows are out.  Those little hills have been covered in snow three times so far this year, but the snow usually melts off in two days or so.  Link to Zell am See web cam

Not getting anywhere

Linda spent last night with Mom and most of the day.  We went to visit around 2:30 and at that time, Linda left to take care of her own stuff.

Mom still feels very weak, still is short of breath, still has pain along her rib cage.  It was just all too much, since it seemed no one was attending to her or doing anything about all of that.  So, I had a long talk with the people at the nurse's station and we finally got the doctor to come in, and even the cardiologist.  It shouldn't have to be that way.  At least we are there with Mom, and we are fighting for her as best as we know how.

So, last night they had given Mom meds to help her sleep and she seemed in decent spirits during the next day, despite not feeling good at all.  She opened her mail, ate her dinner,walked around a little, and all that.  One time, when she was being poked to draw blood, I told her about Rebeca just loving picking strawberries on the road to Bad Fusch and how she always went for the strawberries that were up high because she knew for sure that no dog would have peed on those because they were too high.  This got a good laugh out of both the nurse's aide AND Mom, even though she was being poked with a needle.

Then, this evening, we find out she is being moved to ICU again, but that is mainly because she is going to be getting medication through a drip again.  They "don't do drips" on the regular floor.  Linda will be spending the night again tonight with Mom.

Latest on Mom

Guillermo and I stayed at Mom's house the past two nights, which is the reason for no updates until now.  We had no internet at her house.

So, on Wednesday the 7th, I went to the hospital early because they had said she would be discharged that day.  She was doing ok, still weak and dizzy but it didn't seem to be as bad.  We took a walk around the floor that morning and she did fine.  At around 12 or 12:30, she was finally released from the hospital.  Guillermo met us there and helped take things down to the car.

Mom was happy to be at home and didn't go to bed right away.  She sat down to eat the lunch that the hospital had packed up for her and then she walked around a little bit and then went to her bed to lie down.
In the evening, we fixed supper and she didn't really want to eat but knew she had to.  She ended up eating all of it!  Then, after supper she puttered around in the kitchen a little bit, cleaned the counter by the sink (which I had already done but now it's twice as clean!) and she dried some of the dishes that I had washed.  She seemed happy to be "doing regular everyday home things", but she also had to stop several times to - what it seemed - catch her breath.  She didn't have to do a thing, but we knew activity was good for her especially since she had been doing so much lying around, so we let her do some things.

Late that night, though, she complained of her chest hurting.  Especially when she would try to lie back.  So, we fashioned for her as best we could a pyramid of pillows and blankets so she could sit back against those. That seemed to help.  We all went to bed wondering how the night was going to go.

So, it was a rough night.  She got up at around 3am and she was in a lot of pain.  It was pretty scary for me because I wasn't sure if we should call an ambulance, or just take her to emergency or what?!!?  At around 3:30 I decided to call her doctor who called me back right away.  He said with what I was describing and how her vitals had been, that he didn't think it was an emergency.  He prescribed tylenol (which Guillermo ran out to buy) and said to bring her in in the morning.  Isn't that just the typical response??  So, we gave her the acetominaphen at around 4 and it wasn't until around 4:20 that she said she is starting to feel like it is kicking in and was feeling a little better.  So, at 4:30, we all went back to bed hoping for the best.  The rest of the night went fine, Mom was able to sleep then until morning.

In the morning, Nov. 8th, Mom came out to have breakfast.  She seemed fine, just still weak and somewhat short of breath.  She still had her pains, but not as bad.  At around 11am, a nurse came to the house.  This was follow-up care to monitor her meds and her blood count.  The lady's name was Shawna and she was very nice - it mostly was a filling-out-paperwork/explaining-their-services visit.

Later, at around 12:30, a guy from Physical Therapy came around, which was also set up through the hospital.  This preliminary visit was to get to know Mom and her capabilities.  He had her do various things like walk around the house, show him how she takes a bath, how she would leave the house, and stuff like that.  He found many things that needed to change, such as the towels on the floor shouldn't be there, she should have a chair in the shower, she shouldn't walk down the ramp to the backyard since it has no rail to hold on to, she should have rails on her bed to help her get in and out, and that she should use her cane whenever she walks!!!

After physical therapy left, I took Mom to the doctor's office and after examining her, Dr. Calle decided she should go back into the hospital because her pain may be coming from her gall bladder.  It was very disappointing news.

So, we packed up a few items back at her house and then we went over to the hospital.  And waited.  Poor Mom.  She has done so much waiting throughout much of this.  Waiting, waiting, waiting everywhere.  It took a while to go through admissions and then we sat and waited for her room to be ready.  When Kathy came to visit, we had told her that Mom was going to be put in room 337 when it was ready so Kathy went straight there.  When she saw no one in the room, she went back downstairs and found us.  We told her we were waiting for the room to be cleaned and Kathy told us it looked clean and ready to her!  So, we notified admissions, who called to the floor, who checked the room and said yes, it is ready.   Those people need so much help with their jobs.  So, Mom was taken to her room and the waiting began again.

Mom was placed on a liquid diet until several tests could be run.  We made sure she got some chicken broth which she really liked.  Guillermo and I spent the night again at her house.

In the morning, we visited Mom and there seemed to be no change with anything.  Still on a liquid diet, still waiting.  Guillermo left for our apartment around 9:30am.  I guess Mom ate too many liquids this morning, or too much greasy chicken broth because she got sick a little while after eating.  It was good I was there to help her with that.  At about 1pm, I left to get the mail from her house and to get myself something to eat.  When I got back, she still hadn't been given anything else to eat, no more tests were being done, she was just there.  Doing nothing, nothing happening. So, I went downstairs to speak to a patient advocate and they said they would send one up to Mom's room.  Shortly after that, I was told the Dr. had arrived and would be coming in to talk with us.  And they also told me that the doctor had changed Mom's diet to a soft-foods diet so she eagerly ate some banana and a slice of bread that I had brought for her.  Finally.  Some change.

A floor manager came to talk with me and the patient advocate did come later.  They both were helpful and one of them suggested we ask for a pulmonologist to see Mom.   I went back home at 4:20.  I called Mom around 5:45 and she said she was eating.  At around 6:45, I called her and she said she was in a mess and that no one was coming to help her.  So, I called the nurses station from home and they said they'd send someone to her room right away.  Unfortunately, I found out later that was "shift-change" time, so that made it worse.

Doing good

I went early to the hospital today, probably not a good idea to be heading out during out during rush hour.  The traffic was horrible.  But it was good I went early, because I was there when Mom's doctor visited.  He said she wouldn't be going home today, that it was possible she'd be going home tomorrow (Wednesday).  A little disappointing, but it's better that she stay there until she's good and ready.  They still are trying to get her heart rate to be a little lower (although it's not that bad) and to be more stable.  They have started Mom on Coumadin, and the hope is that will do the trick.  He also said that they were going to put in place "nurse visits to the home", so that she could continue being monitored on her medication and that they would also start therapy with her.

So, I spent all morning with Mom and part of the afternoon.  Guillermo came later in the morning.  After we had breakfast there in Mom's room, we drove to her house, got her mail and a few other things, cleaned out her fridge a little and stuff like that.  Then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Cracker Barrel before going back to the hospital.  Guillermo left after that.

Mom and I took 3 walks around the hallways today.  Each walk got longer than the one before, which was a little scary for me, but she seemed so eager to walk further.  And her doctor said it was good for her to walk, so all I could do was hope her leg wouldn't start hurting again but I knew if it did, a wheelchair was definitely going to come into play!!!  On the last walk, right before I headed back home, she did seem a little short of breath when we got back to the room, but not too bad.

While in the room, Mom and I do things like watch a little TV, order food for her next meal, listen to music on my laptop (today we listened to some German songs again, and to some classical music like The Blue Danube, and The Moldau), I show her periodically what the web cam is showing in Zell am See (the cows were on the hills again!), we open her mail, we do quiet time so she can rest, and general stuff like that.

Always one day behind

Anyway, yesterday Mom was pretty much the same.  The hospital is still monitoring her heart rate and oxygen levels and blood pressure.

Kathy and Linda stayed with her most of the day.  Guillermo and I went to the hospital around 11am and stayed for a little while and then went back home to take care of some things.  In the evening, I got ready to go back to the hospital to spend the night.  By the time I got back to the hospital at 6:45pm, Mom had already been moved to her new room on a different floor.  So, she is no longer in ICU.  Her room is in a quieter area and the room is nice and big and even has a couch!

So, yesterday evening Mom and I took a walk around her floor, looking at all the paintings on the walls.  She was chipper and seemed totally in to walking.  UNTIL we got, of course, to the farthest spot away from her room.  As we were headed back, she started saying that her right leg was starting to hurt and it got worse the more she walked.  I asked her if she wanted to sit for a little while, or if she wanted me to go get a wheelchair for her, I even saw an office chair out in the hall that I said, "look, sit down on that and I'll give you a ride to the room!".  But she wanted to keep walking.  So, the walk back to the room was pretty labored but she made it.  I told the nurse about that this morning when he came around and we agreed that if that should happen again, I should just override what she wants and go get her a wheelchair or something.  Good to know.

Anway, this morning Mom seems to feel tired and a little dizzy.  The side-effects of the blood thinning medication she is on will do that.  But it doesn't help either that there really isn't any good way to get any sleep in this hospital.  Not that this hospital is unique in that respect - they are all always too noisy.  And yes, there are definitely some things that need to be done periodically, middle of the night and all.  But really.  Changing the trash bags at 4 in the morning????  Grabbing those plastic bags and shaking them loudly in the air so that they puff up to place in the bin. And not just one bag, either.  There are 4 different cans in this room so yep, four different loud episodes of plastic being shaken up in the air, slapping in the wind.  I felt like saying, "can you just set those bags down on the counter and I'll change the trash at a more decent hour in the morning?"  Really!!!!  So, is it any wonder that Mom is tired????

We ate breakfast together and then Mom freshened up in the bathroom.  Afterwards we took a very short walk to the window closer to her room in the hallway and stood there and felt the sun for a few seconds.   That was a good enough walk.  Later that morning, a friend of hers from church came to visit and stayed until Mom's lunch was delivered.  After lunch, we went for another little walk - to the second painting in the hallway and she did really well.  She still did not feel good, still felt dizzy, but at least her leg wasn't hurting her.  Shortly before I left for the day, we did a video chat with Andrew which Mom thoroughly enjoyed.
I took the laptop around the room and showed Andrew all of Mom's balloons and the flowers Linda and Jacob gave her, he saw Mom in her bed (she waved to him), and I showed him the little couch in the room - which he was interested in seeing.  He even listened to "You are My Sunshine" which plays on one of the balloons from Linda and Jacob.  He thought that was really special.

Mom doing better

Yesterday, Nov. 2nd, Guillermo and I were supposed to go out for lunch with mom, but when I called her on Nov. 1 to confirm our lunch date, she said she wasn't feeling well.  So, we decided to just play it by ear and see how she felt on the 2nd.  On Friday, the 2nd, she called me early and said she still wasn't feeling well and had called the doctor to go in to see him.  He told her he doesn't do those kind of appointments and for her to go to the emergency room.  Mom called Linda and asked her to take her to the emergency room and then she called me and said she wouldn't be able to go to lunch as she still wasn't feeling well and was going to the emergency room.

Well, instead of going over to the southside to meet mom for lunch, Guillermo and I went over there to meet Linda and Mom in the emergency room.  They had just taken Mom back when we got there and we sat out in the waiting room with Linda until we saw Mom come back out with the intern who then mentioned for us to follow them to the back.

Mom was put in a room and hooked up to monitors and they showed that her heart rate was very high and her heart was beating very erratically.  They set her up on IV's to give her medicine to slow down the heart rate, they took x-rays, did a sonogram and an ekg.  And then we waited.  She wasn't feeling well at all, and it was no wonder with all that was going on and the worry about what they were finding.  After a while we were relieved to see the medicines working and her heart rate come down, although it was still erratic.  One of us left to go bring some lunch and again, we were relieved to see Mom eating some of her fish sandwich, a few fries and drink her orange juice.  Then she enjoyed some iced lemon cake that was brought from Starbucks.  Kathy showed up also and we all did our best to make mom comfortable and to keep her spirits up.

Finally, after much waiting, she was moved from the emergency room into a room in the Intensive Care Unit. That seemed worrisome but we were told that the regular floors do not take care of patients that have a drip of medicine like she does.  Anyway, it was a good ICU room and we were glad that she'd be where she'd get the best care.

Guillermo and I left the hospital around 4pm.  Linda and Jacob were going to spend the first night there in the room with Mom.

Today, Nov. 3rd, Guillermo and I headed over to the hospital at 8am.  Linda said it had been some night but she was glad she had stayed as Mom needed blankets and things like that.  Linda and Jacob left after a while to run an errand and then to go home and get some real rest.  Kathy and I were there much of the morning.  Guillermo left at one point to go look in Home Depot, Lowe's and McCoys for something to make raised bed gardens and then later he drove back home for a little while.  

Mom seemed a lot better today.  She actually was taken out of her bed and put in a recliner which she was so grateful for since she was getting tired of just lying there.  She had her lunch sitting in that recliner and she was in good spirits.  Her numbers were good on the monitors and we told her so which I'm sure had a lot to do with raising her spirits.  We were told that she very possibly would be moved to a regular floor tomorrow.  Her diagnosis is Atrial Fibrillation.

Guillermo came back for me at around 5:30pm and George also came to visit at that time.  Kathy is spending the first part of the night with Mom tonight and Chris will be taking over for the other part.