I'm tired of cooking/preparing 3 meals a day. It's just the two of us but boy oh boy can that woman eat!! She stays slimish, I get fattish. It's bad enough I do everything here much less start making her one thing and me the other. At times I feel guilty when I buy her fast food cuz of the nutritional value....not to mention I eat it too.
Today, she's been up/down. Drowsy and no appetite again this morning, then had a decent breakfast with plenty of protein and drank a glass of juice plus some water. Sleeps much better now with the oxygen and head elevated on the hospital bed, but still gasping for breath with any exertion - like just walking to the bathroom, which is only about 22' from her chair. Called the doc's office today about that and asked if she should be on higher oxygen - they said no, because that will inhibit her drive to breathe and cause more problems, but they agree her being winded while wearing the oxygen after just walking 22' indicates something else is going on. So in addition to the MRI on Monday, she will be getting a chest x-ray. I still say *something* caused her to black out and fall out of her chair, and that *something* is still going on - they just haven't pinned it down yet. I think a cardio workup is in order, myself.
good luck to everyone . difficult or not its still a wonderful thing your doing for your parent .
At any rate....huge hugs and prayers to her.
And you Country Mouse
I forgot to mention a liquid filled blister appeared on her ear lobe today. Both hands where swollen... Nurse told me to hang in there... her body is failing as well as her heart.
This just sucks man.
Lord help me. Mom's bowels woke up from their week-long sleep tonight. Oh well. I needed to clean the bathroom anyway. Right?
Dad's legs were absolutely dead in some areas - black tissue, open ulcers and sores that wouldn't heal, etc. Horrible. His "wound specialist" (using the word lightly, I despised that incompetent boob) used UNO boots on Dad's legs. This means his legs were slathered in a skin barrier cream, wrapped in several layers of bandages and not changed for up to 2 weeks. NOT GOOD. The smell in the house was horrendous. Mom not showering. Dad not able to shower with UNO boots on. Smell from Dad's legs, which were essentially rotting away inside the UNO boots.
Dad fell in August of 2012 at home and went to the hospital. A new wound specialist was assigned and she introduced us to MediHoney. Within 2 weeks of that being used every day, Dad's dead tissue revived and new, pink, healthy tissue appeared. Sores/ulcers healed right up. It was amazing. Then, unfortunately, he took a turn for the worse in other ways and ended up in a specialty care hospital where they refused to use MediHoney, no matter how much I begged them to, and they went back to UNO boots and daily wound debriding (scrubbing dead tissue away, very painful). His last months were torture.
Anyhoo....long story short - MediHoney is nothing short of a miracle. Use it if you can. Amazon has it - so do some sellers on Ebay. I have found 2 tubes for $18-$24 on Ebay. There are 2 types of MediHoney - cream and gel - the gel tends to crystallize, because it's more pure honey than anything else - so it crystalizes just like regular honey does. You could probably warm the tube under some warm water (no microwave!) to fix that, but body heat will also un-crystallize it.
Yes, it's expensive, but it works wonders. I've laid in a supply here at home for Mom, and I use it when I have a cut or something - it's great stuff. The Egyptians knew about honey for wounds centuries ago - we're just catching on.
Susan, where did you get the medi-honey? It's rather spendy... but if it works to get this thing under control, I'm all for it. I did read where honey is recommended for them.
Boy are y'all ever so right on how quick they come on. Started as a tiny tear on the tailbone. I caught it quickly.... now this is with using a barrier cream (which we no longer use) we switched over to a barrier spray, something about the cream keeping it too moist? The spray works great and less messy. We helplessly watched that thing go from a small tear to a full blown deep ulcer. This new paste will supposedly help debride it and stop the bacteria growth which causes the odor. No, it's not infected.... it's just an awful nightmare.
Susan, very good news concerning your mother!! Awesome!
I copied what you wrote in regards to the emotions you go through with your mom... I took out the urine/peeing part as mom wasn't like that. She was a sundowner from hell and a marathon pacer - but it is so SPOT ON. The amount of emotions one goes through dealing with this is almost unimaginable.
"It's amazing, isn't it, how a sudden downturn changes our outlook. I feel terrible for complaining about Mom in the past, but it was so frustrating dealing with her stubbornness and refusal to accept the aging process before - "nope, I can walk just fine!" (said as she stumbles around and leans on things) "nope, I don't need to go to the doctor!". Now I have no bitterness or anger or irritation against her - just love and sadness.
That doesn't mean I won't get irritated again sometime, but I'm sure it wil be less so now.