Mom is back in the hospital. She is currently in God Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, but her nurse has said that she really cannot have many visitors because they are trying to keep her calm and less sedated as possible and the noise of people in the room can prevent her from resting and healing.
That said, mom went into respiratory failure again on Saturday in the middle of the night. She appeared to suddenly have a lot of fluid in her lungs and throat and couldn't clear her throat to breathe. She was rushed by ambulance to the hospital---it was evidently a very bad emergency situation so she needed to get to the closest hospital possible.
Right now, she is intubated (has a tube down her throat through her mouth that is attached to a vent which is helping her to rest her lungs more than helping her to breathe for right now anyway). She also has a feeding tube through her nose and into her stomach as well. She has been sedated in order for her to accept the tube down her throat---human tendency is to pull it out because panicking can cause a choking feeling.
There are no test results pointing to why this happened or what exactly happened either at this time (it is the weekend too so only emergency decisions are made). She has had a Cat Scan which showed no bleeding in the brain (no large sign of stroke---other hospitals have followed the CAT Scan with an MRI but this hospital doesn't feel this is necessary now because mom has been awake, alert and responsive before sedation). No neurologist has been assigned to her either for this reason of alertness... We plan to look into the possibility of getting one to look at her given her history. She had a doppler sonogram which also showed no blood clots in the legs. She had a chest x-ray which showed clear lungs (they did suction her first though) so no signs of viral pneumonia. Bloodwork will reveal any bacterial pneumonia if there is any---no results on that yet. She had preliminary bloodwork which showed low hemoglobin? counts so she needed a blood transfusion. There is evidence of internal bleeding somewhere but the site is unknown right now.
She has been on new antibiotics for a UTI and also meds for tremors...though the doctors didn't think her condition was caused by any of this.
She could have congestive heart failure, or another stroke, or something else...not sure what caused all this.
She did try to look at us and dad when he came to talk to her...but nurse said it agitated her and she needs rest. Dad has a bad head cold. He and I were upstate for the weekend because he needed a break and some respite.
It has been a rough journey these past few months since her second stroke in November which affected her entire left parietal lobe, the Broca and Wernicke centers of the brain too. She has had both sides of her body weakened by the strokes---her left side, which was the original weak side, is now the strong side...though she had been trying to move her right arm more and more each day. She has been unable to speak, though she comes out with a phrase or full sentence or 2 or 3 that relate to the conversation at hand, which her neurologist said is truly miraculous. She has been on pureed food since the second stroke occurred too. She had been in a rehab center from late November through late February--early March and has been home since then. Dad and Terry take care of her largely---they are quite the team to watch---truly inspirational. They sing to her while changing her and try to encourage her too. Claudia and Anthony also continue to work with her for speech, and physical and cognitive therapy. All formal therapy, except physical therapy had ceased at home and in the rehab facility due to mom's not being able to progress quickly enough. I did see progress while she was at home though....slow, really slow, but progress.
When I am able to remain "in the moment," there is still so much kindness, goodness, care, and love around, through us, all....even throughout this whole ordeal. It has been, and continues to be, good to be able to even visit mom and whisper, "I love you." For this seemingly small privilege, we are blessed. Being sick isn't God's Will for us...health is His Will...but life dishes out some awful stuff at times (for various reasons, some of which we can be responsible for while others are out of our control). I thank God He is here to minister to us and help us through all these difficult times.
Thanks so very much for all the prayers. They mean more than words can express.
"Give us this day, our daily bread." Matthew 6:11
That said, mom went into respiratory failure again on Saturday in the middle of the night. She appeared to suddenly have a lot of fluid in her lungs and throat and couldn't clear her throat to breathe. She was rushed by ambulance to the hospital---it was evidently a very bad emergency situation so she needed to get to the closest hospital possible.
Right now, she is intubated (has a tube down her throat through her mouth that is attached to a vent which is helping her to rest her lungs more than helping her to breathe for right now anyway). She also has a feeding tube through her nose and into her stomach as well. She has been sedated in order for her to accept the tube down her throat---human tendency is to pull it out because panicking can cause a choking feeling.
There are no test results pointing to why this happened or what exactly happened either at this time (it is the weekend too so only emergency decisions are made). She has had a Cat Scan which showed no bleeding in the brain (no large sign of stroke---other hospitals have followed the CAT Scan with an MRI but this hospital doesn't feel this is necessary now because mom has been awake, alert and responsive before sedation). No neurologist has been assigned to her either for this reason of alertness... We plan to look into the possibility of getting one to look at her given her history. She had a doppler sonogram which also showed no blood clots in the legs. She had a chest x-ray which showed clear lungs (they did suction her first though) so no signs of viral pneumonia. Bloodwork will reveal any bacterial pneumonia if there is any---no results on that yet. She had preliminary bloodwork which showed low hemoglobin? counts so she needed a blood transfusion. There is evidence of internal bleeding somewhere but the site is unknown right now.
She has been on new antibiotics for a UTI and also meds for tremors...though the doctors didn't think her condition was caused by any of this.
She could have congestive heart failure, or another stroke, or something else...not sure what caused all this.
She did try to look at us and dad when he came to talk to her...but nurse said it agitated her and she needs rest. Dad has a bad head cold. He and I were upstate for the weekend because he needed a break and some respite.
It has been a rough journey these past few months since her second stroke in November which affected her entire left parietal lobe, the Broca and Wernicke centers of the brain too. She has had both sides of her body weakened by the strokes---her left side, which was the original weak side, is now the strong side...though she had been trying to move her right arm more and more each day. She has been unable to speak, though she comes out with a phrase or full sentence or 2 or 3 that relate to the conversation at hand, which her neurologist said is truly miraculous. She has been on pureed food since the second stroke occurred too. She had been in a rehab center from late November through late February--early March and has been home since then. Dad and Terry take care of her largely---they are quite the team to watch---truly inspirational. They sing to her while changing her and try to encourage her too. Claudia and Anthony also continue to work with her for speech, and physical and cognitive therapy. All formal therapy, except physical therapy had ceased at home and in the rehab facility due to mom's not being able to progress quickly enough. I did see progress while she was at home though....slow, really slow, but progress.
When I am able to remain "in the moment," there is still so much kindness, goodness, care, and love around, through us, all....even throughout this whole ordeal. It has been, and continues to be, good to be able to even visit mom and whisper, "I love you." For this seemingly small privilege, we are blessed. Being sick isn't God's Will for us...health is His Will...but life dishes out some awful stuff at times (for various reasons, some of which we can be responsible for while others are out of our control). I thank God He is here to minister to us and help us through all these difficult times.
Thanks so very much for all the prayers. They mean more than words can express.
"Give us this day, our daily bread." Matthew 6:11
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