Jinxed!

Well, rats...

I guess I jinxed her when I talked about not going to the hospital in December.

She started feeling sick to her stomach right after Christmas. We got a call Sunday night that they were transferring her back to the hospital due to another blockage in her stomach. She was to talk to her surgeon Monday morning.

She did, and he's against surgery- doesn't think she's strong enough to last. He wants to bring in someone to check if maybe they can do some sort of "plasty" for the bowel section. Sort of a colonoplasty? He hopes that may stop the problems before they have to resort to surgery.

Otherwise, it's the same routine at the hospital- pump her stomach until they can get the blockage to soften and pass. They also give her pain killers at the hospital, so she's a little bit in happy land...

We are also trying to monitor foods that may be causing blockage problems (like bananas?). We may be looking at foods more high in fiber to keep things moving.

Dad was with her through the transfer to the hospital and into a room- he was there until after 2:00 a.m. Last night (Monday night), she sent him home at about 7:00 p.m. and told him to get some rest; she turned off the TV after taking her pain medication and went straight to sleep! So, we haven' t seen her since she's been in the hospital this time.

A good Christmas

Mom continues to improve- it looks like we will finish December without ever going to the hospital, and that will be the first time since she came to Vista Ridge that she hasn't spent some part of a month in the Lewisville Hospital. (She spent most of October in the hospital.) She continues to eat well, but physical improvements are slowed since they cut back on the physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Hopefully, she (with Dad's help) will do a lot more on their own, but it is tough and can be quite painful, so we will see. I think the fact that she has plateaued on her improvement has been a little disheartening.

Christmas Day was busy around the house- all the creatures were stirring (except Michael- at least not until noon). All of Pam's family came over and enjoyed the meal with Dad; afterwards, he took a plate up to Mom and she ate most of it! That afternoon, we caught the end of "White Christmas" which lead to a discussion about Danny Kaye and a decision to watch a tape (not DVD, so it was a little fuzzy) of "The Court Jester," which is still one of our favorite movies. Just as it ended, sister-in-law Tamara and niece and fiance Thekla and Gary came over from the nursing home, so we enjoyed an afternoon of talking and playing games. By the time we got to the nursing home, it was almost 9:00 p.m. (Fortunately, Dad had spent most of the day there, and Tamara, Thekla and Gary had- as previously mentioned- already visited).

So, we caroled for a short time outside her window. When we realized Dad wasn't there to open the shades to help her see, we decided to go on inside. (We sang at a "mezzopiano" as not to wake Mom's new roommate- turned out it wasn't a problem after all).

As we walked up to Mom's room, we realize the call light had been turned on. Just as we walked in, the helper walked out. Turned out Mom had been a little nervous about "hearing the heater singing" and called for help!

We laughed for a while, made pictures with Mom, Michael, Thekla, and Gary, but only stayed a short while and came on back home.

We'll check today to see if the heater has done any more singing since we left!

Here's hoping you all had a blessed and Merry Christmas!

The good news and bad news...

First, the good news-- it was another good week! The routines for taking pills, eating, balancing, regaining some continence are all coming together slowly-- but at least they are coming together! So far, she has had a good week of eating, keeping the pills (with peanut butter) down, and everything seems to be in pretty good balance.

The bad news-- the 100-day time limit has run out. She is getting less therapy than before, so it may take even longer to really get to where she needs to be.

But the progress can't be denied. Although slow, she continues to make small gains-- certainly better than no gains at all.

So, it's almost like no news... which is good news. Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, everyone!

A good week

This was a good week- very little (if any) nausea and continued workouts with the therapists. We are keeping our fingers crossed and holding our breath!!

There's seems to be a better balance (at this time) for the anxiety medicine, nausea medicine, extra potassium, fluids... all thanks to the magic of peanut butter and Dad willing to go to Wendy's or wherever and get decent food (sometimes). She still has a pretty weak stomach for smells (boiled cabbage makes me a little queasy- you can imagine what it does for her- and she LIKES boiled cabbage!).

Probably won't get to home for Christmas after all, but we are still hoping- and hoping she continues to make improvements!

Ya in, ya out...

The nausea continued, as did the broth for all meals and the IV bags of saline, until last Thursday, when she took a trip back to the hospital. Potassium was at such a critical low they felt it could cause a heart attack. In the emergency room, they gave her four bags of potassium over about 5 hours, which solved all kinds of problems. Eased the nausea, stopped the problems with dehydration, and generally made her feel better. She was sent back to Vista Ridge that night.

We saw her last night, eating a regular meal of chicken and dumplings, and generally feeling better.

Her grumpy roommate got moved out last week, so that's a mixed blessing. She didn't like having us around, but at least it was someone else in the room. Pray that, if she gets another roommate, she will be a little nicer!!

The holidays are going to be a tough time for her, so continue praying for her recovery and her depression and anxiety. She tends to lose the "light at the end of the tunnel" vision quite often, and, while we are hoping she might be able to come home for a while on Christmas Day, we are realistic enough to realize that she may not make that goal.

She did enjoy all the grandkids coming in for Thanksgiving for a good visit, and saw the boys every day they were here (Tuesday through Friday of Thanksgiving week). Michael stayed over until Sunday, and she enjoyed her visits with him.

Here's hoping for a great week for us and you, too!