I saw mom at 11 a.m. this morning and she was sound asleep with an occasional furrowed brow. The nurses said she had a good, peaceful night and slept well. I saw the associate of the pulmenologist while I was there and he said that the latest chest x-ray showed that her lung is doing well. She hasn't needed to use the support from the machine for her lung in 24 hours. He felt that the surgeon would be removing the tube in her lung either later today or tomorrow and that they would monitor her a bit and then send her back to the facility. I prayed over mom and left.
Claudia, Con, Dad, and Anthony and Terry came to see mom this afternoon. I arrived there late (Lenny and I went to the facility to clean up mom's room and take down the Christmas stuff and put up some winter things). When I arrived, Claudia said another doctor (the general MD) saw them all and said that the tube would be removed from her lung either tomorrow or Wednesday and that mom would remain in SICU without the tube and be monitored (length of time undetermined) and then be put into a regular room for monitoring for at least another 24 hours before being returned to the facility. So it seems like she may be back at the facility by Thursday, Friday, or Saturday??? I am concerned because mom's current room/bed is only allowed to be held, according to Medicaid, for 14 days per 12 month period...this stay alone will be 7 days tomorrow and could end up being 10 or more. This means that, should there be another hospital stay (God forbid) in the next 10 months, mom's room could be changed again or she could be forced to leave that facility altogether and moved elsewhere. While moving elsewhere seems like a good thing, it isn't; not as long as mom is on the vent. We need to get her off the vent ASAP!!! Then we can move her almost anywhere we want. We also need to get her to follow commands as well---if she does both these things, she can go anywhere and get therapies too. Otherwise, while on the vent, mom could end up in a facility that does not aggressively try to wean her from the vent---the place she is in now supposedly does aggressive weaning. Mom's eyes were open and she was awake for the most part of the visit. She occasionally looked at us but also looked away (to the side) or closed her eyes momentarily. She appeared to be very alert when Claudia and Dad spoke to her--looking at them with a glow about her face and eyes. She didn't look at me during that visit.
While Lenny and I straightened mom's room and cleaned things up and reorganized the room, some of the CNAs, and nurses came to see how mom was. I have to admit that it was difficult to talk to them or relay the message because I kept thinking that none of this had to happen if only the people on call that morning had paid attention to her preliminary alarms. I know that most of the people we spoke to today were the "good guys" but it was hard. They all listened and offered sympathy and support. Lenny and I asked for a mop for the floor because it was filthy and one of the nurses said he'd call housekeeping or clean the floor himself before he let us do it. After it was "cleaned," it was still filthy so Lenny and I cleaned it ourselves with wipes. We set everything up, dusted... One of mom's old CNAs from the other hallway (before she was moved here) said that she'd been thinking about us all nonstop and she asked if it was OK to visit mom in the hospital. I was so touched by this. We told it was fine to visit, so she's going tomorrow. Evidently, it appears that the story of that morning and what happened that day is a big secret. It also appears that many of the nurses and CNAs don't understand that mom was moved from one hallway to another (new room in November) due to facility policy and not because we requested it. I felt terrible to learn that they thought we asked to move her. I explained we had no choice. They all asked us to move her back to them in the other hallway somehow. I explained that it isn't up to us.
Tonight, Lenny, and I returned to see mom at 8 p.m. Anthony, Con, Sammy, Claudia and Dad were all there already. Mom was very sleepy tonight. She did open her eyes when prompted and sometimes focused on us but mostly slept. Claudia played some "easy listening" music on her IPOD while we visited with mom.
"Therefore, I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24
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