This has been an incredibly long day! (And an even longer one for my sister Robin.)
Robin apparently called me at 2:30 this morning to let me know that she was on the way to the ER because the nursing home had sent mom there. Unfortunately, I didn't hear the phone. Then she called again at 7:30 this morning, but I didn't hear the phone; I was awake. So I didn't see any of the messages until 9:00 when I saw an e-mail entitled "Mom" in my inbox. Just seeing that word in the subject-box made me know that I needed to sit down before I read it.
So . . . what happened was Robin found out that Mom had pneumonia. The upper chambers of her heart were quivering. Not sure why she threw up, but she did and then aspirated. Eventually, she found out that Mom also had a urinary tract infection. And her blood sugar was very low. This is why she is on antibiotics and glucose in an IV.
I got to the hospital about 10:00 or so (thanks to my lovely niece, Audrey) and was there until about 6:15 this evening. During the morning, Mom opened her eyes a few times, but was never really conscious. She seemed to be resting in comfort. Vital signs were basically good. Good blood pressure. Heart rate was a little unsteady, but not really erratic. They were also checking her blood sugar fairly regularly. Even with the glucose IV, it dipped down below 40. So they gave her an injection of glucose to raise her blood sugar level . . . it didrise to normal level. They doubled the amount of glucose in the IV. Just before we left this evening, they checked her blood sugar again and it was 36. Again,they gave her a sugar boost injection.
I don't know what they will do about that.
Mom does not have a history of heart disease. Mom does not have a history of diabetes.
So we called my other sister Susie in California and toldher what was going on. We also asked the staff if we should tell her to fly in early rather than wait until next Wednesday as she originally planned for Thanksgiving. Susie decided to fly in when she gets off work today and will be in town at 11:30 tonight.
So far Mom's body is using all the fluids that she is receiving via IV. We have been warned that if the fluids are just causing swelling rather than being used by her body, they will let us know. Mom is a DNR person, so for now, we are continuing the treatment. We consulted the palliative care nurse and came to the conclusion that at least until Susie gets here and we can talk as siblings we will continue to have them treat her (so long as she is comfortable.)
After speaking to the hospitalist, the cardiologist, and the palliative care nurse, our decision is to leave things status quo at least until tomorrow when we can see how the antibiotics are working and whether she becomes conscious again. Or possibly the next day. If she does not become conscious again, we will have to re-evaluate what steps should be taken. It is possible that we will stop the antibiotics and the sugar and let nature take its course. It's a quality of life decision.
The last couple of months of visits to Mom in the nursing home have softened the blow for me. I am quite grateful that she always had a smile for us when we visited. She didn't talk much. But whenever Robin asked if she was hurting, Mom would say no. She didn't talk much, in fact she wasn't really able to stay awake during the last couple of visits, but she was never a complainer. On our last visit, Robin brought her a chocolate milk shake, she couldn't hold the cup but she got every last drop through the straw as Robin held the cup . . . with relish. It was good to see her enjoying something like that.
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