Lots to talk about
Sorry I haven't posted in sometime. This caregiving business kind of went into overdrive.
My b/f received a call on April 7th from the building where his Mother lives, that she had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. E-mail from his sister indicated she (the Mother) had water on the lungs, and would be kept a few days for tests and observation. When my b/f called the hospital a few hours later, he was informed she was on "life support", so we made arrangements to make the 16 hour drive to be with her.
Of course, my b/f has dialysis 3 times a week, so he went in the next day for a short dialysis, and asked them to arrange for dialysis at our destination. We had done this in Jan., so knew it was possible, but leaving on such short notice added one more stress item to our long list.
I will start writing some posts detailing what happened, so others might learn from our experience.
And, about this same time I learned one of my dear friends' Father had a stroke. He is around 95 years old, and recovered quite well from a stroke and quintuple bypass surgery 3 years ago. This time it doesn't appear as promising, and we are sitting on pins and needles as to his recovery.
On the bright side, it appears my b/f's kidneys might be working again. They will do some tests to see. Maybe they will cut down the length of time they do the dialysis each time (right now it's 3 1/2 hours), but what he would really like is go from 3 days a week to 2. We fear that will be unpopular, due to the standardized schedule of 3 days a week, either M/W/F, or Tu/Thurs/Sat. God forbid someone wants or needs something customized, but perhaps I am too cynical. We shall see.
Oh, and the hospice agency is holding a memorial service next Sat. I finally got a picture dropped off on Friday, but have not yet told my siblings, and have not RSVP'd.
Must add that to the list.
My b/f received a call on April 7th from the building where his Mother lives, that she had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. E-mail from his sister indicated she (the Mother) had water on the lungs, and would be kept a few days for tests and observation. When my b/f called the hospital a few hours later, he was informed she was on "life support", so we made arrangements to make the 16 hour drive to be with her.
Of course, my b/f has dialysis 3 times a week, so he went in the next day for a short dialysis, and asked them to arrange for dialysis at our destination. We had done this in Jan., so knew it was possible, but leaving on such short notice added one more stress item to our long list.
I will start writing some posts detailing what happened, so others might learn from our experience.
And, about this same time I learned one of my dear friends' Father had a stroke. He is around 95 years old, and recovered quite well from a stroke and quintuple bypass surgery 3 years ago. This time it doesn't appear as promising, and we are sitting on pins and needles as to his recovery.
On the bright side, it appears my b/f's kidneys might be working again. They will do some tests to see. Maybe they will cut down the length of time they do the dialysis each time (right now it's 3 1/2 hours), but what he would really like is go from 3 days a week to 2. We fear that will be unpopular, due to the standardized schedule of 3 days a week, either M/W/F, or Tu/Thurs/Sat. God forbid someone wants or needs something customized, but perhaps I am too cynical. We shall see.
Oh, and the hospice agency is holding a memorial service next Sat. I finally got a picture dropped off on Friday, but have not yet told my siblings, and have not RSVP'd.
Must add that to the list.
Labels: congestive heart failure, dialysis, heart attack, memorial service, pneumonia, stroke
posted by Confessions of a Caregiver at
12:16 PM
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