Hi Everyone. Well, after sitting and waiting for six hours, Nana finally got discharged out of the hospital. The ambulance drivers came with a stretcher to pick her up. Nana was sitting in the chair. When one of the guys asked me if she could walk, I told him "she's very weak and shaky". So, then he said to her, "Would you like to dance with me?" She gave him a huge smile, and said she was kinda weak. So, he told her he would hold her up. Well, he got her into a standing position, and then started humming. She looked up at him, and smiled with delight. The sort of rocked back and forth a little, and inched their way over the two feet to the stretcher. When he finally sat her down on it, she said, "Oh! That was NICE!" (Hey.....it's MY turn!!! I WANNA DANCE!!!)
Anyway, Nana got over that fast enough, once they started putting the seat belts on her. She knitted her eyebrows together, as she does when she's worried..... I was constantly reassuring her I would be right behind her. She was glad to see me in the elevator, next to her.......and glad to see me get out of the elevator with her.......glad to see me standing in back of the Ambulance......and really glad to see me standing in back of the Ambulance out in front of Hebert's. See? I told you I'd be right her. hehehehe
So, they wheeled Nana down the hallway. When we made the turn at the nurses' desk, I saw Grampa jump up from the chair he had been sitting in at the end of the hallway......w.aiting and watching! He gave me a huge wave and a giant smile! He almost ran to the stretcher! "Wait, Dad!!! Wait! Wait" hehehehehehe........Oh Lord......HUGS AND KISSES! The ambulance drivers had to stop the stretcher, and they both smiled. One of the guys said, "Wow, that's what I would want!"
Nana was thrilled to see Grampa. She was also thrilled to get into her nice, soft, comfortable blue recliner chair. I swear, she was trying to keep her eyes open two minutes after she sat down.
I hope they had a good night. I'll call a little later and check up on them. I'm going to try to stay here at the house today, as I used up a lot of gas (expensive gas) driving back and forth to the hospital every day. I need to get back to the process of packing up the house. It also appears that the grass doesn't know what's going on, and it has decided to continue to grow! Aw damn....
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Saturday in the Hospital
Hi Everyone. So, I'm glad I stopped at DD to pick up two muffins, because it seems Nana slept right through breakfast, which was awful, since she has not eaten solid food in days, and I'm sure she was hungry! Her room mate told me the person from the kitchen brought her tray.....put it on her table......and then 90 minutes later picked it up and brought it back to the kitchen. No one helped her, or even woke her up. She devoured the muffin, and a glass of water!
She was sitting in the chair, sleeping, when I got there at 10a.m. The first thing she said to me was, "Boy, am I glad to see YOU! I'm freezing!", and she was. I took care of that quickly enough. I got a heavy blanket from one of the nurses running past the door, and wrapped Nana in a cocoon! Right away she said, "Oh, that feels WONDERFUL!!!"
I cut and filed her fingernails, just to give us something to do. When lunch came, I helped her with everything thing that she wanted. She was starving and ate almost everything on her tray. After lunch, we put her back in bed and she slept like a baby for four hours, until it was time for her supper tray. She wasn't very hungry, and fell asleep holding her cup of pudding. Now, you KNOW she's sleepy, as my mother never misses dessert!!!
I left around 5p.m. and Doug must have been coming in the front door, while I was going out the back door, as he called me a few minutes later on my cell, and he was in there already.
Dr Cardouse came in to see her again today, and was pleased with her progress (big deal, her flu ran it's course! I swear, I think that's all it was! And they gave her every test in the world to rule out everything but.....) He said he would discharge her tomorrow. I told Grampa if he doesn't I'm kidnapping her from that hospital.
Fatima hospital is a small, old hospital with a huge nursing shortage problem. I can't tell you how many errors I saw, just in our room of two patients, in just one day! Isabella didn't get her Insulin this morning.......Nana missed a pill because she dropped it on the floor and the nurse never noticed......Isabella's IV came disconnected and it was dripping onto the floor for hours....Nana missed a meal.....etc...etc....etc......It was awful! Next time Nana needs to go to a hospital, you can be sure it won't be Fatima!!!!
And the sad thing is, it's not always the nurses' fault. I met a lot of wonderful, caring nurses who were just swamped with tasks that they could not finish because they had too many patients! It's sad.
She was sitting in the chair, sleeping, when I got there at 10a.m. The first thing she said to me was, "Boy, am I glad to see YOU! I'm freezing!", and she was. I took care of that quickly enough. I got a heavy blanket from one of the nurses running past the door, and wrapped Nana in a cocoon! Right away she said, "Oh, that feels WONDERFUL!!!"
I cut and filed her fingernails, just to give us something to do. When lunch came, I helped her with everything thing that she wanted. She was starving and ate almost everything on her tray. After lunch, we put her back in bed and she slept like a baby for four hours, until it was time for her supper tray. She wasn't very hungry, and fell asleep holding her cup of pudding. Now, you KNOW she's sleepy, as my mother never misses dessert!!!
I left around 5p.m. and Doug must have been coming in the front door, while I was going out the back door, as he called me a few minutes later on my cell, and he was in there already.
Dr Cardouse came in to see her again today, and was pleased with her progress (big deal, her flu ran it's course! I swear, I think that's all it was! And they gave her every test in the world to rule out everything but.....) He said he would discharge her tomorrow. I told Grampa if he doesn't I'm kidnapping her from that hospital.
Fatima hospital is a small, old hospital with a huge nursing shortage problem. I can't tell you how many errors I saw, just in our room of two patients, in just one day! Isabella didn't get her Insulin this morning.......Nana missed a pill because she dropped it on the floor and the nurse never noticed......Isabella's IV came disconnected and it was dripping onto the floor for hours....Nana missed a meal.....etc...etc....etc......It was awful! Next time Nana needs to go to a hospital, you can be sure it won't be Fatima!!!!
And the sad thing is, it's not always the nurses' fault. I met a lot of wonderful, caring nurses who were just swamped with tasks that they could not finish because they had too many patients! It's sad.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Tough day at the hospital today
Where did that sweet little old Nana go to today? Hum.....When I got there this morning at 10:15 she was furious! It took me about fifteen minutes to get her calmed down, and then I went out to talk to the nurses at the desk.
Apparently Nana ripped out her IV twice in the early morning. Then, when the nurses had left her room, she got up and walking out into the hallway and sat in one of the weight chairs. (I think she though she would catch the bus, as she's been talking about doing that for two days now!) She also got out of bed during the night, and walked over to her room mate's bed and was patting the covers asking where Arthur was. All in all, she was quite agitated!
I managed to humor her into calming down and for most of the day she was O.K. After "lunch", which consisted of clear liquids again, she started getting annoyed at me that I would not take her home. Finally, she told me I'd better go call Arthur and explain to him why were late! "He should be home from work by now", she said.
Finally, she fell asleep and had a nice nap. Doug came in early today, and I was so emotionally tired, I was very happy to hand over my shift to him!
Everyone pray that she's safe tonight, and doesn't do any walking around! If she fell, that would be awful! She'd be staying in the hospital a lot longer than she thinks!
I'm wiped out, and I'll be glad when we can get her back to Hebert's. All she cares about right now, is getting back to Arthur........so if we make that happen, she'll feel so much better!
There's a very definite possibility that she will get discharged tomorrow. We're supposed to get Hanna tomorrow, but the Ambulance drive is only about a 15 minute trip, so it shouldn't make too much difference.
Apparently Nana ripped out her IV twice in the early morning. Then, when the nurses had left her room, she got up and walking out into the hallway and sat in one of the weight chairs. (I think she though she would catch the bus, as she's been talking about doing that for two days now!) She also got out of bed during the night, and walked over to her room mate's bed and was patting the covers asking where Arthur was. All in all, she was quite agitated!
I managed to humor her into calming down and for most of the day she was O.K. After "lunch", which consisted of clear liquids again, she started getting annoyed at me that I would not take her home. Finally, she told me I'd better go call Arthur and explain to him why were late! "He should be home from work by now", she said.
Finally, she fell asleep and had a nice nap. Doug came in early today, and I was so emotionally tired, I was very happy to hand over my shift to him!
Everyone pray that she's safe tonight, and doesn't do any walking around! If she fell, that would be awful! She'd be staying in the hospital a lot longer than she thinks!
I'm wiped out, and I'll be glad when we can get her back to Hebert's. All she cares about right now, is getting back to Arthur........so if we make that happen, she'll feel so much better!
There's a very definite possibility that she will get discharged tomorrow. We're supposed to get Hanna tomorrow, but the Ambulance drive is only about a 15 minute trip, so it shouldn't make too much difference.
Update on Nana's hospital stay
Well, looks like Nana is out of the woods for the time being. She was much more alert yesterday, than she was the day before. I sat with her from 10a.m. to 6p.m., and she only fell asleep for a couple of brief moments, but it was a light sleep.....waking up at almost every page on the intercom, and every bell, buzzer and beeper sound. Her smile was back and she was quite talkative. We passed the hours by coming up with fantastic "schemes" to "save the world", or to at least "fix it". However, in the end, we decided that we would have to have a secretary taking notes, to be really effective, and we both agreed that we had "staffing issues", and "payroll shortages"! hehehehe. So, we gave up on THAT plan, and moved to our next favorite thing to do.....making up stories!
She still has the IV in, which she hardly notices. They are still giving her antibiotics, which, unfortunately are pouring right through her. She doesn't remember Hebert's. But I do think it's helping that I'm sitting next to her. At least there's one constant there. She asks me where she is about every five minutes. I'd hate to think what would go on in her mind if I wasn't there to tell her. Well, I can't think about that!
Hopefully, she had a good night, and I'll be back at the hospital mid morning to sit with her again today.
She still has the IV in, which she hardly notices. They are still giving her antibiotics, which, unfortunately are pouring right through her. She doesn't remember Hebert's. But I do think it's helping that I'm sitting next to her. At least there's one constant there. She asks me where she is about every five minutes. I'd hate to think what would go on in her mind if I wasn't there to tell her. Well, I can't think about that!
Hopefully, she had a good night, and I'll be back at the hospital mid morning to sit with her again today.
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