Thursday, October 27, 2011

Cataract Surgery Scheduled

G will have cataract surgery Nov. 10th on the right eye. Then they will see about the left
eye.

He is doing better, but still hoarse, which is worrisome. I thought his voice would improve
when all the bruising went away, but the bruising on his body is almost gone, so not
sure what to think.

He will see the surgeon in a week...they called to reschedule. So will ask the surgeon
what he thinks, as G lost his voice under this Drs. care...

G's son comes to visit this weekend. We are very excited. Have reservations to see
a play at a new theatre which is only 3 blocks from here, so we can walk/push the
wheelchair.

Weather is cooler but not rainy, so should be pleasant.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Busy, busy

G didn't go to the PT/OT appointment yesterday. He slept all morning, and I didn't think
he was up to getting into the car to go.

Turns out when he finally got up around noon he felt better. He said he could finally
sleep as his arm did not hurt so much.

But, as they will probably schedule him for 6 weeks of appointments for PT/OT, I really
think it's best that he starts in a few weeks. He is too busy with other appointments.

First, he has follow-up appointments with 2 different surgeons.

Next, I just now got him an appointment for cataract evaluation. Last time at the
VA they said he needed surgery within a month, and that month is up. Apparently
the VA is really backed up, but as G now has regular insurance I made the appointment
directly with the Drs. office outside of the VA.

Then on Nov. 1 G gets fitted for the C-PAP machine to help with his sleep apnea, and
also see the renal Dr. at the VA.

No telling when he will have to go back in for more appointments on the PD catheter...
but should be in another 3 weeks or so.

Like I said. G will be busy, as well as me!

At least G is feeling better. He started to get back his sense of humor yesterday,
although he is still quite hoarse.

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Monday, October 17, 2011

G is doing better

G is doing a bit better. His voice is a little stronger, his appetite is good, his walking
is a little better although his balance is off.

His hearing is bad, which I am sure is due to the swelling in his head, it must
put pressure on his ears.

Will be really busy this week with Drs. appts. Must call to get more scheduled now.

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Saturday, October 15, 2011

M's Estate

For future caregivers, just a bit of an update on M's estate issues.

He was 62 when he died, so not eligible fore Medicare. He did not have any
health insurance.

After he was admitted to the hospital, the social worker came and had him
fill out papers to apply for Medicaid.

We provided the papers requested prior to M's death, but apparently the social
worker did not submit them.

Two weeks ago the guy called me asking for a copy of the death certificate.
Anyway, I guess first Social Security has to approve the disability part, and
only then can the approval for Medicaid go forward.

I did not have time to fill out the questionaire sent to us for the disability
application, before M died, so I just made a copy of the death certificate and
sent it back in. OK, he's dead, he can't work. That's the way I look at it.
But maybe not the government.

So I need to follow up next week to make sure everything is in order. If I miss
the deadline the Medicaid won't be approved (which can be made retroactive),
and then I will have all the medical folks looking for money.

Also, someone broke into M's house and garage, and just started taking things out.
I had removed anything really valuable, but they did take some tools that we could
have used this past week.

So irritating.

Have now tried to make it more secure, but I really need to get someone living
in that house.

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Little by Little

Don't think I posted that G lost his voice.

It happened the Thursday when his
INR went to 10 (that is the test for how thin your blood is). It should be 2-3 for him,
being on blood thinners. I don't know what normal is without blood thinners. I guess
around 1.

Anyway, that caused him to have internal bruising, and sure blood was just seeping out
wherever there was a scratch. Since G had been intubated 2 times in a week, during
his surgeries, am sure his vocal chords had some damage, and got worse when the
blood went thin.

So he is very hard to hear at the moment. His son was to come visit this weekend, but
we have postponed it until G can talk.

At least G is getting better, little by little. He felt weak after dialysis yesterday, but
they took off a lot of fluid, to help with the fluid overload.

About 1 :00 AM this morning
he wanted to get up, which I helped him to do, but then he said he could get himself
back to bed. Which he did. So, he is once again becoming independent.

Thank goodness!

I know lots of sleep, and eating healthy foods will help him to heal.

Oh, the other funny thing, his blood pressure has not been high! I think after they cleared
out the carotid artery, his blood pressure dropped. Would make sense, the blood
can now go through a place it had to squeeze through before.

So we have to monitor his blood pressure closely, to make sure it doesn't go too LOW.

Just glad to have him home and feeling better.

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Thursday, October 13, 2011

G isn't well

The day G was to be released from the hospital he didn't feel like eating.

I know something is wrong when he doesn't want to eat, but we were so
desperate to get him home, did not tell the Drs. for fear they would insist
on keeping him.

Long story short I took him to the VA today. So far we don't think he has
an infection, and his hemoglobin is improving, but he has fluid overload.
At least he doesn't have pneumonia.

Considering he had to drink all the Miralax, 2 nights, for the colonscopies
which never happened, no wonder he got too much fluid. That coupled
with the IV drip they had him one when he was NPO, and then the Dr.
forgot to discontinue it, so I asked the nurse, who then forgot to unhook it,
so he got 6 hours worth of fluids he didn't need.

Also, his blood pressure has been low, even after withholding all blood pressure
meds.

I will be watching him closely. He will have dialysis tomorrow where they
will take off more fluids, so perhaps that will help.

They also gave G a prescription for a diuretic, but he said that it never helped
in the past, but that eating grapefruit does, so I bought him some grapefruit.

At least he gets to sleep at home. And today he did eat a little better.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

G is home

Good news, G got home around 5:00.

His INR was 2.00, but he wasn't feeling very well today, be we didn't mention
it to the Drs...didn't want to give them any reason to keep him.

Not sure why he is not feeling well. It could just be from all of the bruising.

I got a script for pain meds, so dropped it off at the pharmacy and will go pick
it up now.

Later

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Not Yet

G's INR was only 1.2 today. That is the measurement of how thin
his blood is. It needs to be over 2.

I rather doubt it will be high enough tomorrow for him to go home,
but we shall see.

He is feeling a little better, but his right arm hurts a lot. He is
still asking for pain meds, which isn't good.

This morning I was very concerned about his head being swollen, and
he even seemed confused. But after dialysis (they take off fluids
during dialysis) he was better.

He was really irritable today, wanted food he shouldn't really eat, but
I brought it to him anyway. Fritos and french onion dip, both high in
phosphorus.

He is so very good about his diet, breaking it once in a while isn't doing much harm.
After his treat he was in better spirits.

He wants to go home. I feel so bad for him.

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Still waiting

G was to have dialysis this morning, but then there were some more critical patients
who needed it first, so he will have it this afternoon.

I guess the Dr. said depending on what the blood results for the INR and hemoglobin
count will determine if G can go home today. His INR needs to be over 2, but he went
from 1.8 to 10 in one day last week. Hopefully if it's even close to 2 they will let
him go home.

It will be better for both of us. His blood pressure gets too high from all the stress
of being in the hospital. I get exhausted worrying about him, and going to the
hospital all the time.

We will have to pay for wheelchair transport to get him home. I am not risking him
injuring something getting in and out of the car.

He gets wheelchair transport through the VA, but this hospital stay was not through the VA, and medicare won't pay for wheelchair transport. The transport company suggested I see if I can get the VA to pay for this, but as today is Columbus Day, the VA is closed. It
costs $45.00 for the transport, but hey, it's only money.

Medicaid would have paid for wheelchair transport. (medicaid is for poor people, or perhaps I should say, "economically disadvantaged")

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Not sure what will happen..

We will push for G to get released in the next couple of days, even though
the hematoma won't go away for a week or so. He got a shower and shave today,
much needed. Slept a lot.

I can take so much better care of him at home.

Too many fights with the Drs... if I don't get him home soon, they will
kill him.

So sad to say, but it's true.

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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Procedure will not be done

The Drs. have realized G has a large hematoma in his abdomen, which is the cause for
the drop in the hemoglobin.

They do not want to risk any type of procedure for fear it will affect his PD catheter.

They expect the hematoma to eventually be reabsorbed into his body.

So, G will stay in the hospital until it goes away. He was in a lot of pain this
morning because of it, so he is asking for pain meds.

At least not having the procedure today allowed him to eat lunch.

Thank goodness for pain meds.

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Friday, October 7, 2011

And the drama continues...

Will try to make this short.

Yesterday G's hemoglobin count dropped again - a lot.

He had a horrible headache, so I was afraid he was having bleeding in the brain,
so they sent him for CT scan, which was negative.

Then he was cold and clammy, so I thought he had an infection, so I got the Dr.
to give him some vanco.

Then they decided to do a stool check for blood, which was positive, so they decided
to check his GI track, which meant drinking all that stuff for a colonscopy, so I stayed
all night helping G get on the commode.
Today they found out his blood was way too thin for the procedure, so will try again
tomorrow...which means more miralax. I told them the aide would have to take care
of him tonight.
His hemoglobin had dropped again, so they gave him more blood. So, I suspect
there is some bleed somewhere.
Also, his renal Dr. changed some meds which she should not have, which caused G
to not urinate, which I thought about this morning. So I mentioned it to the other
Dr. (who by now does what I say), they did a bladder scan, found he had a liter
of urine, and put in a catheter.
Good news is G is feeling better today, and even walked to the bathroom with the PT
person.
Hope tomorrow will be better.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

G is nauseous

Well, G was nauseous this afternoon and evening. The surgeon said the venous pressure
is greater, which I expected because now that the carotid artery is cleared out, there is more blood going to the head, and more blood trying to get out of the heat.

G is also constipated from the pain meds. His dialysis Dr. said to him "be sure to
watch your BM's", but then she didn't put any orders in for stronger stuff which he
should have been getting. So, as usual, this afternoon I had to go ask the nurse to
call the Dr. for an order for some miralax.
Which hasn't yet done the trick. If it doesn't by tomorrow morning they will give
him something stronger on the surgeons orders, not on the renal Dr., whom we don't
like or trust anyway.
G is having trouble standing. But, I am sure that in a few days he will improve.
If, they don't do something stupid in the hospital to make him worse.

He was suppose to have breathing treatments today, he has a cough (this should
be standard procedure after a surgery anyway). He said they had asked twice about
it, but no one came by.

So that was my last request when I left the hospital. At least there was a CNA who
seemed to be quite intent on making that happen.

Hope it does.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Blood pressure yo-yo

G's blood pressure is always a problem.

He can go from 100 to 200 in 6 hours.

This afternoon it was 172 over 110, but this evening it was 80 over 40.

Anyway, they decided to give him a blood transfusion.

They had talked about this earlier in the day. He lost a lot of blood
during dialysis yesterday, plus bleeding from the incisions, due to his
thin blood.

I am sure he will feel better after getting some blood

Expect he will be released on Thursday, although there is a chance
they could release him tomorrow.

At least he has his appetite back.

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Great News!

Finally, some good news.

The surgeon was able to place both the catheter in the abdomen for peritoneal dialysis,
and do what he called a "good" fistula in the right arm for hemo dialysis. Both will
probably take about 6 weeks before they can be used.

G will be in the hospital for at least a couple of days, until they get his
blood thinned back to the correct level on coumadin.

At least it appears they are now taking this blood thinning thing as seriously as
they should.

So I feel much better.

And I knew G was feeling better last night, when he called me at 10:00 PM, wanting
me to bring him some food. As I was in the middle of staining some wood in the house,
I declined and suggested he get something from the nurse. They have sandwiches and
fruit cups on the floor.

He phoned back later and said he had.

I am trying to get some projects done inside the house while he was out, as I don't
think the fumes are good for him.

Well, gotta run.

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

Good and bad news on G

OK, well, they called in the Dr. who had done the surgery on the carotid artery,
after the really high blood pressure reading of 230 over 110.

The Dr. ordered discontinuing the heparin, but then sent G for a 2 hour dialysis
run, hoping it would reduce the swelling.

It did reduce the swelling a lot, not totally, but at least enough that G was
feeling well enough to eat today.

I understand why they don't want his blood so thin, but you sometimes can't
have it both ways.

Anyway, he is eating, which is good. I am sure he will be OK for the next day or
so, and hopefully he will get home by Tuesday.

Arrgghh- weekends

This is why you never want to have a procedure at the end of the week.

G was nauseous again last night and this morning. When I got to the hospital
about 9:30 his head was definitely swollen, and not just from the surgery.
His ear lobes and started to swell, as well as his lower lip, tongue, and around the
eyes.

At least when I got there the Drs. were already starting to make rounds.

The nurses aide came in to take vitals. G's blood pressure was 210 over 100.
So, they went and got the "big machine", hoping it would give a lower blood
pressure reading.
It was then 230 over 110.

Long story short they had held blood pressure meds after the surgery, and no
one had restarted them. As I said, it's the weekend.
So I had to chat with the resident (they even had my handwritten note in the
chart as to what meds G takes and when).

And then when the Drs. made rounds had the chat about the head swelling,
and they contacted the vascular Dr. (who had given the orders of no heparin),
and finally,within and hour, G got his blood pressure meds as he should, and
they started the heparin.

There are other things too irritating....but that's just the way it goes.

It's good that I know by now you can't trust the Drs. to watch what is going on.

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Saturday, October 1, 2011

Update on G

G is doing better today. I was really worried last evening because he was still
nauseous, even after receiving medicine for same.

This morning he managed to eat a bowl of cereal, and at noon some mashed potatoes and
a cookie, then he took a nap this afternoon.

I can tell he is feeling better, cracking jokes, wanting to talk, so that makes me feel
better.

His pulse was really high this morning, 132, when his is normally around 60, so they
were doing an EKG just a few moments ago when I spoke with him on the phone.

Will head back to the hospital in a little while.

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