Mom was tired this morning when I arrived. I woke her and she had breakfast. They sent the wrong breakfast again….hahaha! Pancakes and syrup. I sent it back politely with a big smile but the aides were bothered by my request. They all also don’t agree that carbs of this type first thing in the morning is not a good thing. UGH!! Every request on this floor, in this unit is an annoyance and chore. This floor is NOTHING like the floor mom was on previously. Anthony and dad and Claudia called mom this morning and mom spoke on the phone to each one.
Mom’s roommate took her entire bed table and knocked it on the floor!! Water pitcher, paraphernalia and all!! CRASH! I called for help…of course no one came. The cleaning person was finally admonished for it but I told the supervisor what had happened. The roommate also tries to climb out of bed and her bed is soooo high and not on the floor. The head floor nurse was very rude to the roommate…sarcastic. Mom’s roommate needs monitoring and no one watches her but us.
Mom’s leg and foot is still red. It felt just as warm as the left leg and foot. It didn’t look too swollen. The head supervisory nurse thought the same as I did about the warmth in the area and the nurse also said that it didn’t look so swollen…the expectation was worse than what was. No sonogram of mom’s leg and foot yet.
The foot and leg that is in question is the same one that I bumped with the wheelchair some 3-4 weeks ago. The bump happened in a different location though. The nurses, and aides are all now saying that I caused this current condition and not any of them. I can’t say whether I did or didn’t but I will find out. Mom was fine at 11:30 yesterday---moving freely and painlessly for weeks now and came back swollen, red and in pain from PT and the dining room.
The head floor nurse came in to scold me and accuse me of lying basically. The nurse said that my “husband” (I don’t have a husband and told her that). The nurse said that dad failed to tell them that I had hit mom’s leg 3-4 weeks ago. The nurse said all this in a snide manner like we were involved in some type of cover up. The nurse was very annoyed that dad wanted to know what happened to mom and that he questioned everyone with her! I asked the nurse what was wrong with dad’s concern and told the nurse that the concern was valid. The nurse became more disrespectful and attitudinal and said it would be taken up with dad later. I told the nurse to take it up with me and not my 79 year old dad. The nurse said that we all made like one minute mom was “peachy and fine” and the next minute she was swollen and red and in pain when that wasn’t the case at all since mom had hurt her ankle 4 weeks ago. I told the nurse that it was the case---mom was fine at 11:30 when I left her and not fine after the dining room and PT. Then, after the nurse left, it occurred to me that they had a note of the injury 4 weeks ago in mom’s charts!! They should have seen that. No one did though. I had reported mom’s ankle injury to the nurse at the time it happened and asked for it to be looked at. It was determined by the nurse that it was bumped and would be fine.
Maybe I did cause the injury (that remains to be seen)…but I wasn’t hiding anything. The attitude of the nurse was rude and attitudinal. Mom WAS fine one minute and not fine the next. We will get to the bottom of this and help mom in the best way we can. As long as mom is OK.
Mom asked me several times what all the hype was about her leg. She remembered that it hurt badly last night. In the midst of all the commotion over her foot and leg, mom said over breakfast, “Kath, am I supposed to remember if I hit myself?” Mom said that she couldn’t remember anything about it. I told her to take her time thinking and that, if she remembered something, fine; if not, that’s OK too.
Mom and I went to work after breakfast. We did the calendar first. Mom knows the month now really well. She knows the day and date with a prompt. She has no idea what year it is. I asked her who’s birthday was in 3 days and mom said, “Mine” and made a face! I asked how old she would be and she said, “30 something” and laughed. I sang, “76 Trombones” and she said, “Oh no!!! 76?!!! Really?!!!”
We talked to her CNA about the CNAs daughter who is 5. The CNA asked me to tutor her daughter!! Hahaha! We talked about how old the kids are now and I told mom that Ava drove herself and Anthony Michael to see her last night. Mom said, “NO??!!! She drives?” I told mom that Lenny drives too. Mom said she knew that Lenny drives, but Ava??? Mom asked if Ava’s feet reach the pedals!!
We worked on telling time next. (This is a long time-related paragraph!!). I drew a huge clock on the white board and drew the hands at 3:00 and mom knew it instantly. Then I drew 5:10. Mom said, “I don’t know. Umm…5 …. ummm….10 to 5?” I told her to reverse it but she couldn’t. So I told her the answer. I drew all the minutes on the clock in orange, then I drew the increments of 5 on the face of the clock. I also drew the numbers 1-12 around the clock. In addition to all this, I wrote the word AFTER along the right side of the board and the word BEFORE along the left side of the board. Then, I began to plot the ‘big’ and ‘little’ hands on the clock. I told mom that the ‘big’ hand is the minute hand and the ‘little’ hand is the hour hand. So…the next time I drew was 6:05. I showed mom and asked, “OK, what time is this?” Mom said, “How do I know? It’s all Chinese to me!!” and laughed. She is too funny!!! The CNA was helping mom’s roommate on the other side of the curtain and laughed at all that mom was saying!
Mom’s aide came to work with mom briefly and mom had the aide hysterical laughing with all the jokes she was cracking!!! She told the aide, at one point, that I do all the talking for her!! She doesn’t get to say anything!!!
Mom has been put on 2 doses of Tylenol per day by the doctor as a preventative for pain. It is not as needed but mandatory for 14 days. Tylenol puts ME to sleep. I hope it doesn’t do the same for mom. Mom is also on Keflex as a precautionary measure in the event of a possible infection in the foot and leg or cellulitis.
When the head floor nurse showed up on the scene again hours after I called for her, I told her that no one was hiding anything about my bumping mom’s leg 3-4 weeks ago. I told her I reported the incident, had the nurse look at it, and had the nurse note it on mom’s records. I told the head floor nurse that all she had to do was look at mom’s chart yesterday and it would be there.
Thank God for mom because we are all laughing now. She keeps things funny at all times. Mom wanted to ‘go to the bathroom’ again. And again complained at the thought of the bed pan. She told me, “I CAN WALK!! WANT ME TO SHOW YOU?” and began to get out of the bed!! I told her yes, she could show me the next time she goes to PT! At another point, I asked mom if she was sleeping (her eyes were closed). Mom’s reply was, “If I’m talking to you then I’m not sleeping, am I?!!”
Anthony, Samantha and dad joined us. We all talked and laughed so much. Sam took over teaching mom how to tell time just before I left. After I left, the eye doctor came to see mom. The doctor said that mom definitely has some peripheral vision loss in addition to loss of vision to some degree in her left eye. The doctor said that mom will learn to compensate for it though.
Mom had OT, Speech and PT all in bed in her room today. Dad said she did really well with all 3. He did say that we have to practice having mom put on and take off her shirt. She gets confused after a while.
The person who brings and does the scanning finally arrived to do the scan at 6:30 p.m. the results of the scan were negative!! NO BLOOD CLOT!! PTL! They don’t know what is causing the swelling and redness but are treating it for cellulitis with Keflex for 10 days. Thank God.
Con and the kids came to be with mom and put her to bed tonight. Mom was awake and alert when they arrived. They played a game on the IPAD with mom. Samantha played the game where you have to pull up tiles to spell words and mom did great. Anthony Michael practiced telling time with mom. Then they prepared her for bed and mom fell asleep.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us…” 1 John 3:1
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