Update on G

G did not have viral pneumonia, but he did need a pint of blood.

I got a call from his nurse about 2:30 PM after the Dr. appointment this morning saying that G had to come in to get a blood transfusion.

G wanted to do it the next day, because he had an appointment with his renal Dr. in the morning, but the nurse phoned back to tell me "if he doesn't get this blood, he might not live through the night".

Well, that scared the S out of me...so I put him in my car and drove him there myself. There had been a mix up by the wheelchair transport company and they took him home instead of to the VA....it just all gets so frustrating.

Anyway, he gets to the VA and they don't have a room ready in telemetry, where they want him so they can monitor him during the transfusion. So he hangs around for a couple of hours. Luckily my brother R is in town so I can go to the VA.
So I ask the chief Dr. (who is now taking care of G since it's the beginning of the month and all the residents have just started to work)...."so if this was so critical, why isn't anything being done?", to which he replied "well, I think they were must being a bit dramatic".

So the new Drs (residents) came in to do the history. Of course the VA is basically run by residents, and lets face it, Drs. have to learn somewhere. So G and I took a lot of time and went over his whole history, which is quite interesting. They were concerned that G was losing blood somewhere, so they sent him for a CT on the leg where they did the procedure last week.

Of course as G said, they could just look at it and see it wasn't bleeding, but, Drs. can't just look at anything these days and see what's wrong. They must have a diagnostic test. That's why G didn't get blood when he was in the hospital. He was discharged with a hemoglobin count of 7.1, and they won't transfuse less than 7But by Wed. it had dropped down to around 6. The thinking is that because of the volume of fluids they pumped into him to get his blood pressure up, somehow (I guess) this masks the true hemoglobin level.

So once again, if someone with a brain looked at him (as I did) and said "this guy is sick", and, if the Dr. who did the surgery had the guts to say "this guy lost a lot of blood during the surgery, he probably needs a transfusion", maybe they would have given him blood, like they would have in the old days before all this testing.

G pushed to get released on Thursday morning in time to make his Dr. appointment. Once again he had to irritate the nurse to get her to do her job. And, when the renal Dr. nurse came out to the waiting room she said "we thought you were in the hospital", despite the fact that the hospital nurse said she had called the renal Dr. nurse to let her know he was being released.

Now, there are some very, very good nurses at the VA. We know them. Generally they are working in the general part of the hospital. For some reason all the bad nurses have been shifted to the ICU/telemetry part, or, the nursing home.

G's renal Dr. called him at home yesterday, to tell him the VA surgeon can do the surgery he needs for access for dialysis, which is BS, the guy just forgot.
So G should see him next week, and then he will remember, and then G should be able to get a referal from the VA to the Dr. in town who can do the surgery, as that is his specialty. The VA surgeon is just a general surgeon.

G's catheter has been running slow for dialysis the last 3 times, but he took an extra pillow to sit on, and that helped. He now wants to go in the car to places, and I guess we will. If he were to die soon, it would really suck I was so careful and didn't enjoy life a little bit. And now that catheter has been in him so long, it is probably well "set".

G is feeling much better, which is good for me, because with all I am going through I can't handle him being grouchy.

Update on G

Since I have been so busy with M, G has been left to fend for himself
in many aspects.

He had an appointment with the surgeon last Friday, to see if the new
fistula site is ready for use. Normally I would have gone with him,
but of course can't now that I am taking care of M.

G came home Friday after dialysis, a little after 3:00 and said "I screwed
up". I asked what happened and he said "The surgeon asked me how long
it had been since the surgery, and I told him 6 weeks, rather than
insisting he look it up....and I now realize it's been 6 weeks since
I saw the surgeon, not 6 weeks since the surgery".

Well, I went nuts. What kind of a *** Dr. asks a stroke victim a question
like that, especially when the VA has a good computer system.

I immediately phoned the VA to try and get G an appointment for next week, but the Dr. had put in orders for an appointment in 4 weeks (which is what he told
G, that by then the fistula should be ready...), but the appointment person
couldn't go against Drs. orders, so she sent a note to a nurse who was to call me, but as it was 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, no one did, because no one at this VA facility works after 3:30 on Friday ....believe me I have watched the exodus.

(I overhear people saying "I worked through lunch so I am taking off early...)

Anyway, when G goes to dialysis on Monday he tells them what happened, and they phone for the VA renal Dr. whom we like. She was on vacation until Tuesday, and then Wed. when G went back to dialysis they told him he had an ultrasound scheduled for 8:00 AM Thursday. G asked me to phone for transport (he always gets wheelchair transport, and good thing, with me being busy these days).
\
The company assured me they would pick him up at 7:30, but when I phoned at 7:09 the next morning to confirm, I was told "we might be a little bit late"....I am quite sure they forgot (good thing I called).

Anyway, after G left I laid down for a nap, and M didn't bother me, (amazing), so I woke up around 11:00 and wondered why G wasn't back, an ultrasound doesn't take that long. Finally a little after noon I phoned the VA and found out he was having a procedure.

Apparently they went in with a balloon to try and open up the vein, as there is not enough blood flow. G has narrow veins. He says they don't think it will work.

We haven't talk about what they will do next....

I have decided I will start giving G aspirin. Maybe it will be the wonder
drug for him also.

Things are looking up!

G and I spent the entire day at the VA yesterday. He had about 6 appointments.

It appears the Plavix is working to clear out some blockages. He is scheduled for a CT scan with contrast on June 15 to confirm.

Appears the surgery site for the fistula is doing OK. He will will see the surgeon again to take out some more staples.

The renal Dr. says he needs more protein..he eats a lot of red meat and eggs, but he hasn't been eating dairy products, which, I know is a the best source or protein (from an old biology class), so I ordered a Pizza, and he drank some milk.

So, I think he is out of the woods. His dialysis catheter is doing well, so as long as it holds out for the next 5 weeks, I think he will be OK.

After the appointment with the rental Dr., she said to G "she does a good job" (meaning me)... which G agreed to. Although I know he hates to be dependent on me, well, such is life.

G is bored

Yesterday G did not have any appointments, so he was home all day.

He is feeling better, so he didn't sleep as much. He walked down the wheelchair ramp, which is 32 feet long.

Then he sat in his wheelchair and told me what to do in the yard.

I suggested we go for "a ride" (in the wheelchair), to look at a house a couple of blocks over. It is for sale, and I went to the open house on Sunday. The strange thing about this house is it has a shared garage...it is a 2 car garage, and half of it belongs to the next door house. Very strange. I thought it might be of some interest to G, at least an excuse to get out a bit.

G complained that the sidewalk was very bumpy, so on the way back I "drove" in the street. Much smoother.

All G really does is watch TV or Movies on the computer, read the paper, magazines, and eat.

Yesterday I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books, and he started reading one last night.

This is the first time since his stroke he has attempted to read a book. It has really bothered me, as G has always loved books. I was afraid he had trouble following the story, but I think it was just finding one which was of interest.

At least today he is off to dialysis, and tomorrow he has a full day of appointments at the VA.

One appointment he does not have, but needs, is with the podiatrist. His toes are a bit purple, which is quite worrisome. We called yesterday, and they were to call back, but so far nothing. Think we will try to stop by tomorrow.

VA pushes TeleHealth

Almost every time G is at the VA, someone asks if we are interested in getting TeleHealth. I never knew what this was, only something which monitored your health via phone line.

As we don't have a land line in the house, we could not access this. G never really wanted it, he is always resistant to any type of monitoring, just his nature. Well, low and behold someone phoned the other day to once again offer us this service, and told us we would access via the internet, which we do have.

So I agreed to go meet with her and get the equipment yesterday, after the meeting with the surgeon.

When I got there, she showed me the device, and said the program was set up for "palliative care". I replied "he's not on palliative care", then she said "oh, it's for CHF (congestive heart failure)", to which I replied "well, no one has given us that diagnosis. Which Dr. said this?". So, by now she decided to look it up rather than talking off the top of her head. She claimed the attending Dr. from the last admission ordered TeleHealth, and he had put down palliative care.

I didn't press her on that point.

The attending Dr. in the hospital doesn't know G, and I am sure part of what they are judged on is how many of their discharge patients they get put on this program.

I know if someone were living alone it would be a good program. One is suppose to turn on the machine each day, answer some basic questions about how you feel, and once a week take your blood pressure, with a device which comes with the machine, and which will download the data and send it to the VA.

Like I said, if someone is living alone this would be great, and I think in the future all seniors would benefit from using such a system.

G says he doesn't want it, but I learned that the woman who is responsible for this system can help us do things, like send messages to Drs., etc.

The VA is suppose to be setting up a "messaging" function for their patients, but this is not yet active. One can reorder prescriptions at the moment., but that's about it.

Anyway, I can't set up this device because my modem doesn't have 2 input slots. So that's our excuse for now.

I have wanted to monitor G's blood pressure more closely, but am having troubles with the blood pressure machine. It works OK on me, so will try again on him.

G said his blood pressure was so low after dialysis yesterday he had to wait to leave. It was 85 over something, and his almost never drops below 100, even after dialysis, so this is something new.

Maybe those pills are working.

I am going to wait until G sees his primary care, or maybe Dr. B., who he sees next week, so see what they have to say about this "TeleHealth".

Hospital Release Date Unknown

I asked the care plan nurse when they might release G. She thought not until next week, but of course, it's not up to her.

G says he can't walk, but then I figured out it's because of the pain from the surgery.

If he can at least stand enough to "transfer" from bed to wheelchair, etc., I will want to take him home. I know he will feel so much better at home.

The hematologist will come tomorrow between noon and 4:00, so I will have to hang out at the hospital during that time.

I also asked about a lift for G, if he cannot walk at home. I had one for my Mom, but never figured out how to use it, so if I can get some training on how to use a lift, I will be better prepared, should I ever need to use one.

Not much else. Hope the surgery works.

Quick Update

Here are the highlights the last couple of days

1) Operation appears to be successful. It took 4 hours. Before the surgery they were worried if there would be enough blood supply to the foot after doing the surgery, because they were taking a vein and looping it back up. But, the surgeon said after the surgery the foot had good blood flow.
(G only figured it out later that he could have lost the foot)

2) This morning, the nurse noticed G was unresponsive, asked her to feed him, unaware he could use his left had. She ordered a CT scan. No sign of new stroke, just the same area, but G says he is much worse. He thinks his right arm is about 18inches further to one side or the other, that it actually is. He said in the past he thought it was about an inch off (which he always must compensate for)

Hope this is temporary.

3) They started him on Plavix and Warfin today. Heparin IV continues as well.

4) Nurse for Care Plan came by.... wanted to know if going to the VA nursing unit upon discharge was a option..we said no (and gave her an earful of the problems we had there) Said G will come home, and at least she is offering home health aide, which will be great.

5) Nurse also suggested, forward thinking, about "palliative care". G said that would be a good idea to talk about it. This is the first time he has acknowledge that he might not get better.

6) Finally got a consult for a hematologist. Not that it will do any good, but I certainly want to be sure I have covered all the possibilities. If they can't get these clots to clear up, G doesn't have much of a chance.

G in hospital until Wednesday

G has been in the hospital since Friday afternoon.

Friday evening, his blood pressure was up over 200. They had not given him any meds, which he normally takes after dialysis. Also, just the whole experience of being in the hospital, having an IV put in, etc., I am sure didn't help his blood pressure.

When I left at 7:30 they had taken it again, and it was still over 200.

I guess this continued until about 10:00, when they decided to send him to telemetry unit to be monitored closely. G said it was because he had a lazy nurse who couldn't be bothered to take his blood pressure every 20 minutes.

Anyway, G called me to tell me he was being moved, and then a little later someone from the hospital called me to tell me he was being moved. At least they managed this.

After about 20 minutes I phoned telemetry to get a status report. I actually knew it was too early, but wanted them to know that someone was paying attention.
I happened to have recognized the nurse on the phone (and also recall she was not that great). She said she was just getting ready to call the Dr.

I phoned her back an hour later to find out what was going on. His blood pressure was still high, they were giving him some more meds. They wouldn't start the heparin until his blood pressure got below 180.

I was really worried, because now his blood is thick (INR of 1, when it should be 2-3), and with high blood pressure, he could have another stroke.

Anyway, the good news is around mid-night they got it under control.

The next morning they moved him back to his room in the regular part of the hospital.

That evening I brought in his laptop computer and we watched a movie together. It helps to make things seem a bit normal. I know just being confined to a hospital room with a IV drip isn't fun.

Apparently this morning the Chief Dr. told the residents during rounds (this being the first day of the month they get in a new groups), That G would be in the hospital until at least Wed.

This was news to G, who thought he would be out on Tuesday. Apparently they want to keep him until he has migrated from the heparin to the coumadin, and his INR levels are back to what they should be.

Oh, and some good news. His catheter ran better on Friday than it had on Wednesday, so maybe it will hold out long enough for a fistula to get going.

G goes to hospital tomorrow

After the call yesterday regarding requirement to discontinue the blood thinner coumadin in order to increase the blood clotting before surgery, it got me worried.

Well, first of all, there was nothing said about taking Plavix, which we should get in the mail soon. So G wanted me to call about that.

When I phoned, I also mentioned my concern that whenever they take G off of blood thinners before a procedure, he has a TIA. So, the nurse told me to phone the primary care Dr. about this concern. I couldn't get him, but left a message, which, apparently, prompted a lot of between the various Drs.

Long story short, they want him to be admitted Friday afternoon, and they will put him on heparin, which does not stay in the system as long as coumadin.

The other things that will probably happen tomorrow, if history repeats itself, is that his catheter won't run for dialysis. If this happens, at least there will be some preparation (I hope) in case this happens.

G doesn't want to spend the weekend in the hospital, and I don't blame him, but he also stated he doesn't want to have another TIA, so at least we agree on that.

Keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Thankful for the little things

When talking with one of my friends today, I realized that as bad as things appear to be for the future, the current situation is not all that bad.

G does not feel bad. He enjoys eating, does not have trouble swallowing, which, after a stroke can be a huge problem. He is sleeping through the night, which he had not done since we met.

He can walk around on his own, get up and down from the bed, chairs, etc. He can see, and read.

Although he cannot type or write, at least he can see and read. His father lost his eyesight at around 62, the same age G is now.

G is at dialysis now. It's past 2:30, so I am assuming the catheter worked at least enough for them to keep him there.

The surgery department at the VA phoned this morning. Said G is scheduled for surgery on Monday. So, I guess my talk yesterday with Dr. M had some affect. At that time the surgeon said he would do the surgery in a couple of weeks. So, at least that got moved up 1 1/2 weeks.

Well, we shall see.

Got Through the Weekend

G did not feel nauseous on Saturday. He now agrees with me that when he gets nauseous it's because he is having a stroke. The neurologist (whom I was never impressed with), told G the nausea was probably due to low blood sugar. But they checked his blood sugar on Thursday when he was nauseous, and it was 125, which is not low.

We didn't go anywhere this weekend. Well, I went to the store several times.

I had a prime rib to cook, which I have never done so before, so asked G to look up a recipe for me. He seemed to enjoy doing so, and it turned out pretty tasty.

Saturday was cool, but the sun came out Sunday, so G wanted to go to the backyard.

He walked down the wheelchair ramp, and all the way to the backyard, where I had placed a chair. We still had lots of plants to get in the ground, so he "supervised" the planting, although to be honest, I have more gardening experience than he.

At one point he decided he would get down and finish planting the lettuce I had dug holes for. So, he manages to get on the ground, and get back up. Of course I do not think this is a good idea, in light of the catheter in his groin, but I just don't argue with him anymore.

Then he decides he will go back in the house via the back steps. These steps have no railings. I told him I didn't think it was a good idea, but he insisted. He sat on his bottom and managed to get to the porch, asked for his walker to be placed there so he could use it to get up. It wasn't pretty, but finally with my help he managed to stand up. Afterwards he said "I don't think I will do that again". LOL.

His hearing seems to be worse. I think that's because of the swelling, but not sure.
He has started looking at some of his e-mails. He still can't really type, and has trouble seeing the keyboard to try and hunt and peck, but he manages to use to the mouse to get things to come up.

There is a care plan meeting today at the dialysis center. I have decided I am not going, although I said I would. G has asked that I don't go, because the meeting is pointless, it's only to fulfill a paperwork requirement, which is absolutely true.

I think I will call the nurses today for G's primary care Dr., to build a fire under the staff for the meeting tomorrow.

Gotta run

G Not Feeling Well

This morning G was nauseous again. At dialysis they gave him some Zofran. In the past when he has been nauseous it was because he was having a stroke, or a TIA, although he always denies he is having a TIA. So, I don't dwell on it.

I called the VA nurse this morning and got a prescription for Zofran, in case he is sick again this weekend. They let me pick it up.

He still didn't feel well this evening. Only wanted to eat rice, and toast.

We will see what tomorrow brings. The weather is nicer, so tomorrow I will try to plant some more things in the garden, and G wants to go in the backyard, which he hasn't seen since his stroke.

Also, I noticed his short term memory is going. He was watching a TV show on HULU, that I know he and I watched together before, but he didn't remember. But, his long term memory is still quite good.

He is letting him help him a bit more getting dressed and undressed.

I feel so sorry for him.

We watched an episode of "Mad Men" tonight on DVD. One part was about a woman who had cancer, but her family would not tell her. G said that none of the Drs. want to deliver the bad news. He noticed this the last week. Of course, same I have noticed. The surgeon says "maybe we will do another surgery next week", but I know that's only because he doesn't have the guts to say there is nothing else he can really do.

I guess G will keep having dialysis as long as this last catheter works, and then that's probably it.

I certainly hope I am wrong.

New Catheter, New Site

They put in a new catheter in the only site which has not been used. It's the left groin area.

This area cannot be used for a fistula, due to the vein they took out of that leg when they did by-pass. I thought they wouldn't be able to use that site for a catheter, but apparently not.

The surgeon said after a week or so they would do surgery on the right groin area to try and get a fistula going. It bothers me that that is the side he put the catheter in last week, because now there are probably blockages. And, what if these blockages don't clear up?

Oh well.

G is having dialysis now, at the hospital. As soon as he is finished they will get him discharged and wheelchair transported home, probably around 6:30. It will be good for him to be home, as he didn't get much sleep last night.

I told him no more going in the car for at least a week or maybe two. I am afraid part of the reason the catheter fail was because Tuesday evening he stretched his leg a little too much getting into the car.

I live 2 blocks from a public bus which has wheelchair lift, so we can take it downtown. Plus there is a grocery store, 5 restaurants, and a dinner theater within 5 blocks of where I live. The weather is getting nice, so I can push him in the wheelchair if we want to go out.

We also need to get G certified for the special handicapped city bus, which will do door to door service. I have the form for it, just haven't taken the time to get that arranged.

That's it for today.

Catheter failed to work

At dialysis today, they could not get the catheter to work. The nurse tried clearing it out with clot buster, but nothing.

So they called transport to pick G up. I knew nothing until the transport people phoned me, asking what I knew. I called the dialysis center, spoke with the receptionist who only knew "he's done"., so I asked to speak with the nurse who told me what happened.

She said they put in a call to the VA.

Long story short, G was transported to the VA emergency room, and after an hour os so the surgical resident gave instructions for the ER to draw blood, keep G there until the results came in. They confirmed his blood clotting was very thin, 2.8 INR, so they admitted him to the hospital. They will give him vitamin K to thicken up the blood, because if the blood is too thin it's not good to do surgery (which is what caused the stroke before).

Tomorrow he will go in for surgery to put in a new catheter. But, I fear they won't be able to do it because of blood clots. I hope I am wrong.

I spent quite a lot of time on the phone with the nurse for his primary care Dr., whom he was to see tomorrow. I said "I need someone to advocate for G", that "there does not seem to be any plan B in place in case the catheter fails" (this was even before I knew the catheter had already failed).

Yesterday G was in complete denial that things would go wrong, and he would die. I have decided he doesn't want to talk about it, so I don't. I understand his wish to deny what might happen. Sometimes it's healthy to be in denial.

I took dinner to him at the hospital A nice salad, pasta with red sauce, fresh strawberries, and a slice of lemon meringue pie. He will be NPO after midnight, so he should at least enjoy some good food now.

At least "super nurse" was taking care of him.

Tomorrow's another day.

Dinner is Late

G got back from surgery around 2:30. After he came back, the nurses were asking him "what time did you leave this morning". There was much debate amongst the staff, then they thought to look at the "transport ticket" to obtain the time. It said 7:30. But I know that was not really the time he left.

He called me when he was suppose to leave, I was already headed out the door so I drove to the VA (about 5 minutes away), went to surgery, and he wasn't there.

It turns out the nursing unit did not give G his high blood pressure meds, which he must have in the morning (there were problems in the past with his blood pressure too high during surgery).

G told the staff he needed this pill (he was NPO because of the surgery), they didn't believe him, so called surgery to confirm, and yes, he did need that pill.

So I don't really know what time he left, but I beat him to the surgery unit, went back looking for him, and must have missed him in the elevator.

Anyway, the staff apparently did not report him back in when he returned from surgery, so there was no supper tray for him. When I got over there around 6:30 (dinner is at 5:15), G was sitting in front of the nurses station and they were trying to find his dinner. He said he would go pick it up, but of course, that could not be allowed.

So finally at 6:45 when he still did not have dinner, and I had carried some things to the car, I asked what he wanted me to get for him.

When the nurse heard this she said "so you don't want your dinner", to which I replied, "well, it's not here!".

So I went to McDonalds as requested by G, and when I returned he was eating dinner, but was still happy to have the food I brought as they only gave him about 1/2 of his usual dinner (due to his dietary restrictions, he gets lots of substitutes from the norm).

We will be so glad to get him out of there.

Tomorrow's the big day! If the "to do" list isn't done by the time he goes out for dialysis (around 11:00) I guess I will be playing patient advocate again.

Another TIA

This morning before breakfast "G" had dry heaves, cold sweat, slurred speech.

This also happened a few days ago. I tried to convince him then that he probably had another small stroke, but he wouldn't hear of it.

But today, although he did not use the word "stroke", he called it an "episode" (which is accurate), and told me afterwards he had trouble walking, did not do well in p/t, had to have help walking back down the steps.

Then he said to me "you were right about needing the wheelchair ramp".

I have been telling him he can't come home until I have a wheelchair ramp. I know from experience, because the first night I had my Mom home from the nursing home she collapsed on the floor, and was in a wheelchair after that.

At least our whining in the care plan meeting regarding the need to be shown how to get up if "G" falls accomplished something. Today in p/t they worked on getting up from the floor to bed and floor to wheelchair.

So our "to do" list before "G" comes home is get appointments at the coumidin clinic (which will probably be 2 times a week), get a follow-up with primary care to get all the new prescriptions. He will be released with 30 days supply by the Dr. at the nursing unit, but then the primary care is responsible for writing the permanent prescriptions.

And, transport arranged for dialysis, and appointments. "G" getting transport will be one less thing he is dependent on me for. He needs to maintain some control over his life. I certainly understand that, and quite frankly, I want him to.

I just hope he can adjust to the idea that he/we will have to hire people to do things.
I can't do everything, and neither can he.

It's difficult to accept one's limitations. I remember my Mom telling my Father, when he was almost 80 and complaining about what he couldn't do "well honey, you're not 50 anymore!" LOL

Discharge Plans

To continue what was discussed during the care plan, I asked what I should do if "G" falls.
There wasn't much offered, but to call the fire department.

As mentioned, "G" had asked the p/t to practice heling him get up, but she said this was only for outpatients. Whomever was representing p/t said "Well, you have 2 more days, so they can show you then".

It's all just insane.

I also asked about getting transport for his dialyis, appts., etc. I know from past experience if I try to do it all, it's jsut exhausting. At leasst the social worker said she would try to coordinate with the social worker at dialysis for transport.....but then she did say "but didn't you take him one day".

I also asked about any help they could offer, day care, home health care, nothing was offered. So then I said " so you are telling me I can leave him by himself?"
"What if fallls". To which, "G" replied, "it's as if I were here, no one would respond".
Which sadly, is true.

I know what I need, I just wanted to see what they would offer.

Of course, they want us out of there as soon as possible, because we are trouble.

Well, it's good to know we are going.

Tonight "G" came to the house, we put some potting soil on the top of the other stuff I had put on the raised bed, went to the store to get some seeds, so tomorrow we will be planting some herbs.

Problem is, the Dr. says "G" should not be digging in dirt, dut to high risk of infection. I asked him to tell this to "G" because he won't listen to me.

Care Plan Meeting

OMG!!

The meeting starts out with introductions. The physical therapist is not there, she called in sick (most likely to avoid us). The speech therapist was not there, but she is good, and we already knew she probably wouldn't make it (not that the people running the meeting knew this).

The pharmacist starts out the meeting revewing the list of meds. It doesn't sound correct, and finally when she gets to the 3rd med, the Dr. sees the look on my face, checks the sheet the pharacist is reading from, and they realize the list is not for "G", but for the next meeting.

Talk about breaching confidentiality.

So then they say that P/T says "G" has plateued, not making more progress, so he will be discharged from P/T on Friday. That's in 2 days.

We were never given any kind of care plan, goals, etc. from P/T. "G" finally asked yesterday if he could be shown how to get up if he falls, and was told "that is something we do for outpatients!". And yet, p/t plans to discharge him in 2 days, and then he WILL be an outpatient.

There was lots of other discussion, almost too depressing to mention.

"G" was still combative, told them a couple of times "that's bullshit". Well, at least they didn't call the cops.

The Dr. has ordered another CT scan which they will probably do late today after dialysis. I hate him having so many CT scans, but he will FINALLY be seen by a Neurologist this week (The "Good" Dr. said he needs to be followed by a Neurologist, and I guess someone finally got the consult put in, probably the Psychiatrist, but I really don't know).

I told them let's shoot for discharge next Tuesday, as I am not sure the wheelchair ramp will be up. The city inspector still has not shown up to sign off the trusses on the porch.

Oh, and here's another laugh. Yesterday there was "Gardening" as an activity so "G" and I went.

They had one of the staff from landscaping, planting onion sets in raised beds. There was no attempt to let any of the patients do any of the gardening.

To me, this would be like offering "art therapy", and then having the patients watch an artist paint.

Well, gotta get to work.

Always a battle

I went on-line this morning and ordered a transport chair. 75.00 all inclusive.

The medical supply place we went to yesterday wanted 279.00 for the transport chair. This is probably how much they get when you have a prescription from a Dr., and Medicare pays for it. And we wonder why Medicare costs so much LOL.

Last evening before we went out the nurses were reviewing the meds he should take at 5:00 PM. On their list they had a med, which I knew he got at dialysis. I told them this, they phoned the dialysis center and confirmed he received it there. I have no idea how it got on his med list, and of course, what would have happened if I had not been there to intervene?

They had instructions to hold the blood thinner, as his blood was too thin.

This evening "G" and I went out to see a movie, "Black Swan". He started dozing off, I did not like the movie, so we left after an hour.

As he was walking to the car, I saw blood dripping, and realized he had a nose bleed. Which, is a sure sign his blood is too thin.

We got back to the facility...nurses busy because computers not working.

This evening "G" told me he doesn't want me to say anything to anyone about what he needs. This is a continuation of the problem with him being combative... we had some other problems..
Anyway, he will see his Psychiatrist on Thursday, and hopefully he will do something with the meds to improve the mood problem.

I guess the Speech Therapist (who is great) called the Dr. this morning about the mood problems, and a Psychiatrist showed up to talk with "G", but it's not his usual Dr., so I suspect he wouldn't talk with him. Never did get to the bottom of what happened.

As to my house, the inspector did not show up today, so we might be a day behind schedule. But the contractor is great, and he is also doing the wheelchair ramp, so think it will be done by the middle of next week if not sooner.

I can't bring "G" home soon anyway. I don't have all of his meds here, and it really is best if he can be close to where he gets his P/T and speech. They have released him from O/T.

As I said before the "care plan" meeting is tomorrow, but my gut tells me it will be postponed. "G" said 2 people showed up this morning to take him to the care plan meeting, and he had to tell them it was tomorrow.

He is taking his calendar everywhere with him, so at least that is good.

Gives him some control, and as he has lost so much control over his life, every little bit helps.

A Little Better

This morning "G" was depressed, but he didn't want to tell anyone (except me). The nursing home Dr. say him this morning, and "G" told him he was fine.

I spent most the morning getting an appt. for poldiatry, and getting the nurse to type into the activity sheet all of "G" appts (although the "bad" nurse said he did this 2 days ago.

"G" did not get PT today, because he was asleep, and no one came to take him.

But after dialysis, he was feeling better (they finally increased his dialysis up to 4 hours as he was not getting sufficient dialysis, due to the blockages). Of course, this only happened after I reminded them 2 times the Dr. said it should be increased.

"G" and I went out this evening, looked at transport chairs, which he doesn't like because he can't set the brake (it's in the back). He says he can always get around with his walker, but I fear he overdoes it. We then went to my house, so he could look at the progress of the porch, the raised bed where I started putting in leaves, dirt, mulch, and will fill it up at the top with potting soil.

Then we went to dinner at a Sushi restaurant we had not been to before. It was very good, and "G" used chop sticks. I asked if he wanted a fork, but he said no, the chopsticks are good practice.

He still keeps telling me all the things I need to be doing, which is a problem.

There is a "care plan" meeting on Wed., so we shall see what they say.

I still think he needs an adjustment on his meds, but he will see the Psychiatrist on Thursday, so guess it can wait until then.

He still has unrealistic expectations of himself, and me, so that's a problem.

But I can understand. He is very frustarted, and rightfully so.

Problem is, so am I.

He keeps telling me I need to just relax.

LOL