Claudia wrote:
Claudia started the day with mom. She was up and awake but foggy. She didn’t talk much. I wrote on the wipe off board that it was Anthony’s 50th birthday. She did the “masseter”
exercises with her facial muscles, this is the exercise at the back of the jaw . The masseter muscle is the muscle you feel when you clench your teeth. You take 2 of your fingers and place them on the face at this point on the jaw and do 50, rapid forward circles and then 50, rapid backward circles. This stimulates the jaw, swallowing, facial muscles... Mom cooperated with the exercise and bit down so Claudia knew where to place her fingers. She also did the exercises with her tongue and the dentifrice tool. It took mom a long time to open her mouth and even longer to stick out her tongue. She kept reminding her that it was Anthony’s birthday. She also did her full PT.
Dad and Anthony went to see mom around 11:30. Mom was in the rec room with her roommate, her CNA and the speech therapist. As soon as mom saw Anthony she said, “Happy Birthday.” The CNA and speech therapist couldn’t believe it! Anthony was so happy, but most of all he was happy that they heard it too. Now that’s one heck of a birthday gift! They visited with mom and then went home. My dad received a call from the facility at about 2:15 and someone on the phone said that her tube came out again and that they were taking her to the hospital, Good Sam. My father was with Anthony and they were both very upset. They got in the car and Anthony thought, Good Sam? Let’s call them back and get the details. They went back home, and dad called to find out that her feeding tube “fell out.” They were sending her to Good Sam because the doctor at the facility is affiliated with Good Sam. Dad and Anthony then called me and Kathy. Dad, Anth and I all arrived at Good Sam, but mom was not there yet. It took them over an hour to get her to Good Sam because of an accident on the LIE. Kathy went to the facility to find out that it didn’t “fall out” (This is basically impossible) and that when they were wheeling her back to the room from the rec room they pulled it out because it got hooked on the wheel of her wheel chair. They said they heard a “Pop.” The sound they heard was the balloon that is inflated under the skin to prevent it from “falling” out. They had pulled it through the skin and it popped as it left her body. A CNA told Kathy that this happens all of the time and she will be back from the hospital in no time. When I saw her at the hospital she had blood on her nightgown. I said that if anyone tells me that it is no big deal and that it happens all of the time I am going to ask that person if it is OK if I make them bleed! “Let me pull a balloon through your skin so it makes a popping noise and causes you to bleed and we will see if it is no big deal!” They will have to hold her back on her next visit (Lol).
Kathy wrote:
When I arrived to see mom around noon today, mom was in the recreation room with dad and Anthony. Her CNA was feeding her lunch and everyone was pleased with her progress--the CNA also told me about how mom told Anthony "Happy Birthday." Mom had a full breakfast and then ate a huge plate of stuffed fish (sole?), rice, potatoes, vegetables and pears. She also drank juice and thickened coffee too. She held the cup to drink and sucked through the straw.
I went back to work and got the call from Anthony (he sounded extremely upset which upset me), saying that "it happened again to mom!!! The tube came out again!!!" I left work and ran to go to the hospital (Good Samaritan...far from where mom is---45 minutes ride at best). Once in the car, I called the facility and no one knew anything!! Not where mom was taken, why she was being taken far away (once they knew where), what happened...this includes the head nurse. Anthony called to say that he and dad called the facility back and found out it was mom's feeding tube and not her trach tube. They went to the hospital (dad, Ant, Claudia) and I went to the facility to find out what happened. I was upset but factual and calm in order to find out the information. I was pointed in the direction of a respiratory therapist---a young person---when I asked the therapist what happened---I was told it wasn't her fault and that she was just there to "care for the vent and the airway"---I asked her if "Do you think it would be too much to ask you to check to make sure that the person attached to the vent was stable before you moved her? Especially since you are the one with the educational background?" She became sassier then she already was and mouthed off in an arrogant, rude voice to me. I was shocked! She then said, "Oh, you don't have an attitude with me?" I said I was upset because my mom was rushed to the hospital and she laughed at me. i began to cry. I spoke to mom's CNA who said this happens all the time. I spoke to the head nurse to find out why, after all these months, they are still calling dad in an emergency even though we asked that they call me--since dad has a hearing aid, hearing loss, tinitus, and is anxious and almost 80.... Wonders never cease to amaze me there. I fixed that problem, checked in on how mom was doing, and went back to work. After work, I went to the hospital, where mom was having an x-ray of the temporary, emergency tube that the Physician's Assistant put in at the facility. All looked well in the xray and mom was in good spirits as well. Claudia and I were going to spend a night on the North Fork and the day out there tomorrow...we didn't go. Everyone went home while I stayed at the hospital with mom because we were told the ambulance would be there to transport her in 20 mins to an hour. It was 6 p.m. then. While we waited, I exercised mom's hands and fingers. We also recited some nursery rhymes (she remembered every word) and then we recited a poem she used to tell us over and over when we were little:
The Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear
1The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
2 In a beautiful pea-green boat:
3They took some honey, and plenty of money
4 Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
5The Owl looked up to the stars above,
6 And sang to a small guitar,
7"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
8 What a beautiful Pussy you are,
9 You are,
10 You are!
11 What a beautiful Pussy you are!
II.
12Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,
13 How charmingly sweet you sing!
14Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:
15 But what shall we do for a ring?"
16They sailed away, for a year and a day,
17 To the land where the bong-tree grows;
18And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
19 With a ring at the end of his nose,
20 His nose,
21 His nose,
22 With a ring at the end of his nose.
Mom remembered every word!!! Then we recited a poem that mom sang at an assembly when she was 8 or 10 years old in Brooklyn, Joyce Kilmer's TREES
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast
A tree who looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray
A tree who may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair
Upon whose bosom snow has lain
Who intimately lives with rain
Poems are made by fools like me
But only God can make a tree
Mom remembered every word. We sang old songs and recited poetry.... but the ambulance didn't arrive until 4 hours later at 10 p.m.!!!! Though I was impatient and upset at the delay, I kept reminding myself to be thankful that it was an ambulance coming and not a hearse. Thank God. I followed it to the facility and made sure mom was all tucked in and safe and sound. Mom and I prayed and I anointed her with oil.
Another day.....as Con would say, "Never a dull...."
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9
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