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.  

08:45 AM: Heading in to the hospital to visit Mom.  Back later.

09:15 AM: Having my morning decaffeinated coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts on Forbes Ave.   

12:15 PM: I’m back at [Emmy's].

01:30 PM: Watched a bit of the news and today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless. 

03:15 PM: Going out to get a haircut.  Back later.

04:00 PM: I’m back, and watching the news now. 

05:15 PM: Sent about 20 minutes on the phone with Verizon customer service.  The problem: Though [Emmy] switched to Comcast from Verizon as her telephone and Internet service provider, Verizon continued billing her for Internet service.  They said that [Emmy's] DSL line had never been deactivated after the switch; even though her phone line had indeed been turned off.  The Verizon agent said that you can still receive DSL service from them even if you don’t have your phone service with them.  I didn’t know that.  I thought that deactivating the phone line would also turn off DSL service.  Not so.  Well anyway, the agent turned off [Emmy's] DSL account and supplied me a confirmation number to prove this.  She also credited back the over $108 in broadband charges that have accrued since when [Emmy] switched providers in March.  Hopefully this will work this time.  This is the second attempt we’ve made since May to stop this billing.  We’ll see. 

05:45 PM: [Emmy] and I are walking now to the hospital to visit Mom.  Back later.

07:30 PM: We enjoyed our visit with Mom.  Now, we’re headed to the Original Hot Dog Shop on Forbes Ave. for a bowl of french fries, cheese, and ketchup. 

08:45 PM: We’ve returned to [Emmy's] apartment.  I blogged a little, and am checking out CNN’s   Larry King Live   and   AC 360   shows.   

11:45 PM Blogged a bit, watched some late local news, and Letterman’s monolog, and as per usual at this time of night, I’m ready for bed.  More tomorrow.  Good night. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

None today.

Related Posts

• Mom’s Status: 2010-08-24
• Today’s Diet: 2010-08-24
• Weight Loss: 2010

Summary

Mom sat up in bed and then they moved her to a stretch chair.  Physical therapy was less painful for Mom today; although doctors are concerned that she has so little control over her legs and appears to be missing some sensation in her thighs.  So she won’t be relocated closer to home until they work her up and make sure that there’s nothing more the matter with her legs than that she’s been laid up for a long time.

Pending Objectives

• Track Mom’s extreme weakness and loss of feeling in legs. IN PROGRESS.  This is likely a symptom of her pelvic hematoma. 
• Monitor Mom’s overall pain status.  We’re looking to get her pain stopped.  IN PROGRESS.  Her pain has been steadily decreasing over the past week. 
• Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma.  IN PROGRESS.

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. 
• 2010-08-20:   Find out what the liver doctors think of the spot on Mom’s liver. DONE.  Her liver is okay; no obvious recent deterioration.
• 2010-08-23: Get results of today’s echo heart pictures test.  DONE.  Results were very good.  So no surgery at this time is required, and Mom will receive antibiotics for the next several weeks to get rid of the rest of the MRSA infection.

Log

08:45 PM: Heading for the hospital now.  Details of that visit follow:

• 09:25 AM: I arrived.  She’s wide awake and
• 09:35 AM: The Physical Therapy people just arrived and are  working with Mom right now.
• 09:25 AM: Currently, Mom is unable to sit in the chair.  She’s afraid of standing; that it will hurt too much.  So at first, they exercised her while she’s in her bed.  They’re focusing on building her coordination enough so that she can stand without so much fear and pain.
• Eventually however, they did get her onto her feet for a couple minutes once they assured her that they could keep her from falling. 
• There is some leg strength increases but still lots of pain.  Also, extreme weakness in her knees was noted.  She’s still unable to bend or straighten them without assistance. 
• 10:20 AM: Physical Therapy left for today.
• 10:25 AM: The nurse practitioner arrived. 
• 10:35 AM A cardiologist arrived.  He’s concerned with her leg weakness.  So he’s ordered doctors in the Physical Medicine and Rehab (PMR) department to examine Mom.  He wishes to rule out any other cause of the weakness than muscle atrophy from lying in the hospital bed for so long without much exercise.  PMR will visit Mom sometime later today.
• Mom is likely not a good candidate for Health South, as she cannot currently meet their minimal rehabilitation requirements of their patients. 
• She received two nice cards today from neighbors and close family friends.  She read them to me — she enjoys reading aloud. 
• 10:50 AM:  There appears to be some loss of feelng in Mom’s thighs; though she can feel touches on her ankles.  This will also be investigated by the PMR team. 
•  11:20 AM: I’m leaving now.  Mom is going to sleep, to wait for her lunch to arrive an an hour or so. 

05:45 PM: Leaving now for the evening visit with Mom.  Details follow:

• 06:15 PM: [Emmy] and I arrived.  Mom told us that the PMR doctors examined her at approximately 5:30 PM this afternoon, and feel that her leg problems are probably due to her recent internal bleeding in the pelvic area.  However, they’ll run more tests and confer with other professionals tomorrow to come up with a definitive diagnosis. 
• Mom is awake and talkative and in good spirits.  She enjoyed seeing [Emmy]. 
• Mom borrowed my cell phone to call a few friends.  She experienced no problems using the phone tonight.
• She actually declined pain meds for the first time since this hospitalization.  This is great because not only does it suggest that she’s dealing with less pain than in previous days, but the lower drug amounts also mean that her alertness will continue to improve. 
• She wants more diet Pepsi.  I’ll take some to her in the morning.
• 07:30 PM: We’re heading out now so we can get home before dark.  Good night, Mom.  I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-08-24

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.
• 07:30 AM: Leftover veggie pizza from last night.  400 calories. 
• 09:30 AM: 1 decaffeinated coffee with hazelnut flavoring and half & half.  100 calories.
• 04:45 PM: 2 bowls of Cheerios cereal with organic skim milk and organic sugar.  800 calories.
• 05:30 PM: 1 Ensure health drink.  350 calories.
• 08:15 PM: French fries with cheese and ketchup.  1000 calories.
• 10:00 PM: 1 multivitamin.  0 calories.   

Total calories: 2650.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Other Food Diary Entries
• Today’s Business: 2010-08-24
• Weight Loss: 2010