Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  Sister Jojo is performing this until I return home.

Log

07:00 AM: I’m up.

08:30 AM: I’m walking to the hospital now to be with Mom.  Back later.

12:10 AM: I’m back home.

01:30 PM: Watched   KDKA TV’s Local News at Noon    and today’s episode of    The Young and the Restless.

01:35 PM: We’re going to lunch at the Indian place.  Back later.

02:45 PM: We’re back.  I’m blogging and Facebooking for a bit.

03:25 PM: Nap time.

05:00 We’re up again; now watching   KDKA TV’s Local News at 5:00 PM.

11:35 PM: Spent the evening watching news, Facebooking, iPodding, and blogging.  I also made a big bowl of lime-flavored cream cheese Jello.  Didn’t visit Mom tonight; I’m feeling wiped  Besides, she’s feeling well enough to receive phone calls.  So I supplied her phone number to her closest friends and family so that they can start keeping her some company.  I plan on visiting her again tomorrow.

11:45 AM: Bed time.  Back tomorrow.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• Mom’s Status: 2010-08-20
• Today’s Diet: 2010-08-20
• Weight Loss: 2010

Summary

Mom is much improved today. She eating better, joking more, and generally seems happier.  The doctors say they’re impressed with the contrast between how Mom feels today and when she first arrived in Pittsburgh over ten days ago.  She sat in a chair by her bed for ten minutes for the first time today, and the liver issues the doctors were seeing the past few days have been determined to be non issues.  Her belly pain is gone and the leg pain has improved somewhat.  They’re getting her to drink more liquids on her own; without IV fluids given.  I’d say that with the exception of the leg pain, Mom is about as alert and talkative as she was n Altoona after they gave her the first two units of blood.  This is wonderful to see. 

Pending Objectives

• Monitor Mom’s overall pain status.  We’re looking to get her pain stopped.
• Find out what the liver doctors think of the spot on Mom’s liver. 
• Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma.

Completed Objectives

• 2010-08-16: Find out if that “flapping object” was present in Mom’s heart in her 2008 echo cardiograms.  DONE.  It was not present.  This is a new development since 2008. 
• 2010-08-16: Get council on results of the 2010-08-13 mid section CT scan and arterial doppler study. DONE.  Mom’s bleeding has lessened.  They plan on doing another CT scan tomorrow to check progress. 
• 2010-08-17: Establish physical therapy for Mom; per her cardiologist’s recommendation.  DONE.  She should have her first session either today or tomorrow. 
• 2010-08-18: Seek counsel on results of the 2010-08-17 (yesterday’s) mid section CT scan; once it’s done.  DONE.  This test revealed a hematoma.  See details about this elsewhere in this document. 

Log

08:30 AM: Leaving for the hospital.  Details of the visit follow:

• 09:15 AM: I arrived.  The nurses were in the room, helping Mom eat and getting her comfortable.  Though she still has pain when she moves too much, she appears nearly pain-free as long as she stays still.
• One nurse is combing Mom’s hair and she’s loving it. 
• Most recent CT scan showed a small amount of  cirrhosis of the liver. But specialists think that this was likely present prior to Mom’s stomach stapling surgery some thirty years ago.  This scaring is nothing new therefore.  We’re waiting on today’s blood work to further prove that Mom’s liver has suffered no ill effects from the MRSA infection.
• No belly pain today, and Mom is eating more.
• 09:25 AM: Doctors are considering the removal of Mom’s IV fluids in order to reduce the swelling in her legs and to encourage her to drink more on her own.
• 09:25 AM: The pain level in her right leg is an 8 out of 10. But she seems far less hampered by it today than previously.
• Pulse in feet found, but weak, due to the swelling the nurse says.  Though the right foot shows more swelling, they still easily found the pulse and though it was weak, it sounded healthy.
• She’s more awake, has better appetite, suffers from less pain, shows improved mood, and asking a lot about family members and friends.
• She now thinks that she “has it good here” in this Pittsburgh hospital; though she’s still mad at us for insisting that she stay here until she gets better.
• She brushed her teeth with soda pop.  Then they brought her water to use; mortified that she’d want to use diet Pepsi.  This incident was amusing.
• 10:00 AM: The liver specialist eame and went; giving us the good news that no new problems or degradation of her liver were found.
• 10:00 AN: Physical Therapy (PT) also arrived to help Mom out of bed and into a nearby chair.
• 10:00 AM: Also, a long-time friend, [Morra] visited too.  Mom remembered who [Morra] was; though she had not seen her in over nine years.
• 10:00 AM: Mom’s day nurse said that they had her standing early this morning.  now, PT is attempting to get her to the chair; lots of exercise for Mom in one day.
• But she still suffers severe pain anytime they move her legs too quickly or too far.  While standing, she’s wobbly on her feet, and straightening her legs produces intense pain.
• 10:12 AM: But in spite of all the hurt, they got Mom into the chair, and once the pain from the move subsided, she seemed happy to be there; though she was exhausted from all the exertion.
• 10:20 AM: Mom just talked to a few friends and daughters on my cell phone.  She was happy to do that, and they wre all tickled to finally hear something from her. 
• 10:45 AM: She’s more engaged and curious about family happenings. 
• 10:55 AM: Mom just indicated that she’s ready to return to her bed.  I’m rounding up help to get her there.
• 11:05 AM: Too much weight was placed on Mom’s legs and she cried out because this hurt so badly.  We’ll work with PT to switch to a “stretch chair” when they move her again, and make them aware of this extreme leg weakness and sensitivity. 
• 11:05 AM: The nurse helping her get back to her bed says that “she has no leg strength” and that PT will be apprised of this.  PT will likely not see Mom again until Monday.
• They might need to use a transfer board next time she’s up. 
• 1:15 AM: Mom’s back in bed and the pain from the move has subsided.
• 11:40 AM: She asked for a newspaper. I bought one for her from the gift ship.  Now, she appears sleepy but content. So I’m leaving now.  I’ll visit again later to see how she’s doing. 

06:50 PM: I talked with Mom on the phone.  She’s still doing pretty well, and no scheduled visits from doctors occur tonight.  Plus, I’m weary of all these trips to the hospital.  So she said I don’t need to visit tonight.  I’ll go back in tomorrow. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-08-20

I keep this food diary to stay aware of just how many calories I’m eating daily, with the hope that it decreases the likelihood that I’ll overeat.    It seems to work, so here we go with another day…

Today, I consumed the following items:

• Herbal tea throughout the day. 0 calories.
• 09;00 AM: 1 extra large Dunkin’ Donuts decaffeinated coffee with half & half.  100 calories.
• 10:30 AM: 1 plain cake Dunkin’ Donuts doughnut.  300 calories.
• 02:30 PM: Indian buffet lunch.  1300 calories.
• 09:45 PM: 3 bowls of Cheerios with organic sugar and organic skim milk. 1200 calories.
• 09:50 PM: 1 multivitamin.  0 calories.

Total calories: 2900.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Other Food Diary Entries
• Today’s Business: 2010-08-20
• Weight Loss: 2010