Tuesday, April 26, 2005
JUNE....1990
With the trip to Boston and the Spring yard work I am getting a late start back to the life and times of Esther and her family. Thankfully a little shower chased me in so I can continue with the year 1990 in the month of June…where we left off.
Mom had been taken to the hospital and had suffered a wild frenzy of over dosing on medication. She was experiencing terrible effects from it and the tests and hospital didn’t show any results. She had been given a new room and had been given a bath, was lucid when we visited the first day of June. She recognized and was happy to see us. She ate oatmeal for me and drank some water and milk…but later began regressing again. Becky encouraged her to eat some custard but she wouldn’t take any medication nor drink. I came home pretty discouraged.
The next day was the same. The pain in her leg didn’t diminish with any of the treatments. It was Saturday and I stayed with her all day as well as Sunday. I had no reason to hope that things would be better…I thought the staff was pretty disinterested in coming up with any solutions. I second guessed everything until I was out of ideas. Monday I went back to work, feeling guilty to be working when mom was doing so poorly. Bear went down to see about her and stayed most of the day to ease my mind about her……she still wasn’t eating.
Wednesday they moved her to the extended care unit and it was much cleaner and the help was better also. They quit giving her so much Demeral and hoped that would make her more alert and help with her eating. On Thursday I went to see her after I got off work. Bear had been with her, reporting that she ate some breakfast, had a shower and shampoo in a wheel chair…..had therapy and slept good. Becky was with her when we arrived that evening….she was feeding mom and mom was sitting up in bed eating like a little machine. A tuna sandwich of all things. She was so much better we were amazed. She looked at us and smiled like, “What happened?” She was decidedly better and I felt the first relief in days.
The next day it was a different story. We arrived at the hospital to see mom sitting in the area of the nursing station slumped over in her wheel chair, asleep. Her I.V. was out of her arm and dripping on the floor…it was obvious she had been there a long time. I was just sick to find her like that. Her nurse indicated mom woke up at 4:00am and wanted “up” so they put her in a wheel chair. It was after noon when we saw her and she had not eaten nor had anything to drink. The nurse made no excuses or bothered with any explanation. She did refasten the I.V. We wheeled mom to her room and asked the roommate what happened….it seemed mom woke and wanted up and she was in quite a mess. They got her cleaned up and put her in the wheelchair and the roommate said she had not been back to the room since. It had been approximately 10-hours ago.
Mom was back in bed when the doctor came to check on her and he told us the nurse said “our family was causing a lot of problems over the care of mom”……that was the last straw. I told the doctor I wanted her moved back to Willow Care in Willow Springs where she received good treatment and was well cared for. He seemed miffed and curtly said, “It will be arranged.” I didn’t tattle on the nurse and what happened, I knew the nurse had already covered her tracks and he wouldn’t believe anything I could say. To this day, I do not go to that doctor or to that hospital. When the picture comes to mind of my mother sitting so pitifully in that wheel chair I become angry all over again. It’s part of the past I cannot deal with and remains unresolved for me.
The next day was Sunday and mom returned to WC in an ambulance. Naomi, the nurse, had prepared a nice room for her, in with an old friend from church and a birthday club they used to be in together. When mom came into the room she was so thrilled and happy to be back. The hospital had been a place of horrors for her. Some of the ladies came by to welcome her back and mom was so happy she couldn’t get rid of the smile on her face…..she was “home.” We fixed her room up with things of hers and made it homey again……..so she settled down to rest and we left her later in the evening.
This began a long time of highs and lows that came and went so quickly, I never relaxed with mom’s condition again. It’s a very sad time to write about but part of who we are and ……where we have been. And so it must be told.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Mom had been taken to the hospital and had suffered a wild frenzy of over dosing on medication. She was experiencing terrible effects from it and the tests and hospital didn’t show any results. She had been given a new room and had been given a bath, was lucid when we visited the first day of June. She recognized and was happy to see us. She ate oatmeal for me and drank some water and milk…but later began regressing again. Becky encouraged her to eat some custard but she wouldn’t take any medication nor drink. I came home pretty discouraged.
The next day was the same. The pain in her leg didn’t diminish with any of the treatments. It was Saturday and I stayed with her all day as well as Sunday. I had no reason to hope that things would be better…I thought the staff was pretty disinterested in coming up with any solutions. I second guessed everything until I was out of ideas. Monday I went back to work, feeling guilty to be working when mom was doing so poorly. Bear went down to see about her and stayed most of the day to ease my mind about her……she still wasn’t eating.
Wednesday they moved her to the extended care unit and it was much cleaner and the help was better also. They quit giving her so much Demeral and hoped that would make her more alert and help with her eating. On Thursday I went to see her after I got off work. Bear had been with her, reporting that she ate some breakfast, had a shower and shampoo in a wheel chair…..had therapy and slept good. Becky was with her when we arrived that evening….she was feeding mom and mom was sitting up in bed eating like a little machine. A tuna sandwich of all things. She was so much better we were amazed. She looked at us and smiled like, “What happened?” She was decidedly better and I felt the first relief in days.
The next day it was a different story. We arrived at the hospital to see mom sitting in the area of the nursing station slumped over in her wheel chair, asleep. Her I.V. was out of her arm and dripping on the floor…it was obvious she had been there a long time. I was just sick to find her like that. Her nurse indicated mom woke up at 4:00am and wanted “up” so they put her in a wheel chair. It was after noon when we saw her and she had not eaten nor had anything to drink. The nurse made no excuses or bothered with any explanation. She did refasten the I.V. We wheeled mom to her room and asked the roommate what happened….it seemed mom woke and wanted up and she was in quite a mess. They got her cleaned up and put her in the wheelchair and the roommate said she had not been back to the room since. It had been approximately 10-hours ago.
Mom was back in bed when the doctor came to check on her and he told us the nurse said “our family was causing a lot of problems over the care of mom”……that was the last straw. I told the doctor I wanted her moved back to Willow Care in Willow Springs where she received good treatment and was well cared for. He seemed miffed and curtly said, “It will be arranged.” I didn’t tattle on the nurse and what happened, I knew the nurse had already covered her tracks and he wouldn’t believe anything I could say. To this day, I do not go to that doctor or to that hospital. When the picture comes to mind of my mother sitting so pitifully in that wheel chair I become angry all over again. It’s part of the past I cannot deal with and remains unresolved for me.
The next day was Sunday and mom returned to WC in an ambulance. Naomi, the nurse, had prepared a nice room for her, in with an old friend from church and a birthday club they used to be in together. When mom came into the room she was so thrilled and happy to be back. The hospital had been a place of horrors for her. Some of the ladies came by to welcome her back and mom was so happy she couldn’t get rid of the smile on her face…..she was “home.” We fixed her room up with things of hers and made it homey again……..so she settled down to rest and we left her later in the evening.
This began a long time of highs and lows that came and went so quickly, I never relaxed with mom’s condition again. It’s a very sad time to write about but part of who we are and ……where we have been. And so it must be told.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
