My Mother is Hospitalized (AGBF)

[Kaleigh]

I''m so glad she''d out of the hospital and doing well. That''s great news!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Deb, altho I am sure you are aware of the natural probiotic sources of yougert that are available to help normalize gut flora, there is another probiotic product that is more concentrated, so I thought I''d mention it. I have used it and it is helpful.

Bio-K CL1285 for digestive health. Contains L. acidophilus and L. casei. It is recommended for c-diff and antibiotic associated diarrhea, as well as travellers diarrhea. If comes in capsule form, or as a drink (soy or fermented milk). Strawberry flavored or plain. Tastes like buttermilk to me. In the refridgerated section of your health store--or I have purchased it at a large grocer. The concentration of healthy bacteria in these sources is huge compared to a serving of yougert.

Glad to hear good news!

cheers--Sharon

 

[gwendolyn]

Only just reading this thread now, and I am so glad that your mom is now out of the hospital and improving, AGBF! I hope things continue to get better.

 

[pavelover]

Just wanted to say I am glad your mom is doing better. That is great news! Take care of yourself too while you are taking care of your mom. I know you are probably concentrating on your mom, but try to remember to give yourself a break if you can. Thinking of you.

 

[Ellen]

Continuing good thoughts for your mom Deb.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 4/2/2008 10:40:07 AM
Author: canuk-gal

altho I am sure you are aware of the natural probiotic sources of yougert that are available to help normalize gut flora, there is another probiotic product that is more concentrated, so I thought I'd mention it. I have used it and it is helpful.



Bio-K CL1285 for digestive health. Contains L. acidophilus and L. casei. It is recommended for c-diff and antibiotic associated diarrhea, as well as travellers diarrhea. If comes in capsule form, or as a drink (soy or fermented milk). Strawberry flavored or plain. Tastes like buttermilk to me.

Sharon!

I was trying to reply in ORDER!!!! Now look what you made me do! You have always been so bad for me! You have enabled me to buy so much high karat gold jewelry and now you have made me throw courtesy to the winds!

This sounds ideal for my mother. She often refuses to eat or drink, but has been much, much better about drinking lately since the pain of the C-diff has passed. (She is in one of the periods when she supposedly doesn't have it.) She also likes (or used to like) buttermilk. I will look for some of this and try to get it into her. She is rational now and may take something for medicinal purposes even if she would have refused it for nutritional purposes. I will give you an anecdote to elucidate.

She had been on puréed foods following a "swallow test" at the hospital. A speech pathologist came in to administer another one at the nursing home. Most of the test was done and my mother was allowed to finish the food on her tray, including dessert. For the first time in ages, she actually ate. She liked the banana cream pie and fed it to herself.

Then, finally, the slices of pot roast and gravy for which the speech pathologist has been waiting arrived from the kitchen. She told my mother that she wanted her to eat them. My mother, not unreasonably, said that she was full and didn't want to! I explained that no one was trying to get her to eat more and that I realized that they wouldn't taste very good after banana cream pie, but that this was a test to make sure that she could chew and swallow, so she obliged.

In other words, my mother is being rational. She is disoriented from time to time, but most of the time she is fully oriented and lucid. She is able to have both physical and occupational therapy, which are quite rigorous in this facility ( a tremendous blessing). For the first time, my father and I have allowed ourselves to hope that she might actually be able to come home. If she eats and goes to physical therapy, it seems possible that she will survive and be able to walk again. Of course no one knows for sure. She had a seizure in the nursing home a few days ago, but since then the anti-seizure medication was raised. We are hoping!

Thank you for all your well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers!

My love to all of you,
Deborah

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 4/2/2008 11:15:14 AM
Author: AGBF

Date: 4/2/2008 10:40:07 AM
Author: canuk-gal

altho I am sure you are aware of the natural probiotic sources of yougert that are available to help normalize gut flora, there is another probiotic product that is more concentrated, so I thought I''d mention it. I have used it and it is helpful.



Bio-K CL1285 for digestive health. Contains L. acidophilus and L. casei. It is recommended for c-diff and antibiotic associated diarrhea, as well as travellers diarrhea. If comes in capsule form, or as a drink (soy or fermented milk). Strawberry flavored or plain. Tastes like buttermilk to me.

Sharon!

I was trying to reply in ORDER!!!! Now look what you made me do! You have always been so bad for me! You have enabled me to buy so much high karat gold jewelry and now you have made me throw courtesy to the winds!

This sounds ideal for my mother. She often refuses to eat or drink, but has been much, much better about drinking lately since the pain of the C-diff has passed. (She is in one of the periods when she supposedly doesn''t have it.) She also likes (or used to like) buttermilk. I will look for some of this and try to get it into her. She is rational now and may take something for medicinal purposes even if she would have refused it for nutritional purposes. I will give you an anecdote to elucidate.

She had been on puréed foods following a ''swallow test'' at the hospital. A speech pathologist came in to administer another one at the nursing home. Most of the test was done and my mother was allowed to finish the food on her tray, including dessert. For the first time in ages, she actually ate. She liked the banana cream pie and fed it to herself.

Then, finally, the slices of pot roast and gravy for which the speech pathologist has been waiting arrived from the kitchen. She told my mother that she wanted her to eat them. My mother, not unreasonably, said that she was full and didn''t want to! I explained that no one was trying to get her to eat more and that I realized that they wouldn''t taste very good after banana cream pie, but that this was a test to make sure that she could chew and swallow, so she obliged.

In other words, my mother is being rational. She is disoriented from time to time, but most of the time she is fully oriented and lucid. She is able to have both physical and occupational therapy, which are quite rigorous in this facility ( a tremendous blessing). For the first time, my father and I have allowed ourselves to hope that she might actually be able to come home. If she eats and goes to physical therapy, it seems possible that she will survive and be able to walk again. Of course no one knows for sure. She had a seizure in the nursing home a few days ago, but since then the anti-seizure medication was raised. We are hoping!

Thank you for all your well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers!

My love to all of you,
Deborah

HI:

Deb, of course the pleasure is all mine! Thank you for sharing the acecdote--pot roast is nothing compared to banana creme pie!

cheers--Sharon

 

[ladypirate]

That''s great news, Deb! I''ll definitely continue to keep you and your family in my prayers--I hope she comes home soon!

 

[chizzy1982]

Deb
That is such fantastic news about your mother - I glad she is on the mend.

Sending get well wishes

Take care

Lizzie

 

[lawmax]

I'm so glad your mom is doing better. I agree on the probiotics (Kefir is good) and eating up foods that are calorie-dense and appealing. Be gentle with the speech pathologist. I don't know about her bedside manner, but we play a role. You would be horrified at the stories of patients who are on aspiration precaution diets and positioning who die because families are trying to be kind and bring in yummies that are dangerous for the patient to eat.

Love and hugs,

lawmax

 

[Skippy123]

Deb, I am glad she is on the mend; I have been thinking about you and your mom often. Thanks for keeping us posted and hugs outgoing!!!

 

[DMBsGirl]

Just came across this thread, i am so glad that your mom is doing better. Well wishes for her continued improvement!

 

[strmrdr]

glad too hear the good news!
prayers continue!

 

[FrekeChild]

I''m happy to hear that she''s doing so well!!

 

[coatimundi_org]

So glad to hear your mother is doing better!

 

[dragonfly411]

I''m glad to hear that your mother is doing better!

 

[Nicrez]

Glad to hear she is eating and feeling more herself! Good luck with getting her back home, I am sure she will be right as rain with all the love and attention she is getting from you! I wish I had good advice to give, but I can only offer positive thoughts. So, I send them to you and your family by the truck load!!!

 

[LAJennifer]

So glad your mom is feeling better.

 

[Skippy123]

Deb,
I hope you don't mind me asking how your mom is doing?

I have been thinking about you both and praying your mom gets her strength back.

 

[AGBF]

Thanks, Skippy. I had been unable to keep up with the thread. I want to thank everyone who responded to it. I had hoped to do so to everyone in order, but I fell hopelessly behind and then couldn't even keep current with updates.

It has seemed useless to post updates because my mother's situation seems endless. She left the hospital for a nursing home/rehab facility where she was starting to do the simplest acts in physical therapy (like standing from her wheelchair). Then she had a medical problem. We received a phone call saying that her platelet count was "critically low" and she was re-hospitalized. There she had seizures, so her anti-seizure medication was changed. She has also been unable to urinate, I think due to a UTI (urinary tract infection). They took her off one antibiotic she had been on for the infection (UTI) due to the low platelets but I do not know whether she is on anything else. It is impossible to find a doctor with whom to speak. I am thinking of writing a book, or at least a newspaper column, on the modern hospital and how it functions with doctors never speaking either to patients or their families. We can go for four or fivedays without seeing a doctor and never hear what anyone is thinking about my mother's case or being told what medicines she is on. Apparently "the team" had her on steroids; when we heard it, it was news to us!

I love it that they are treating the "critically low platelets" without knowing the source of the problem. Why work up a problem if you can solve it by putting the patient on steroids?

Deborah

 

[Skippy123]

Oh Deb, how frustrating and your poor dear mom; I am so sorry. There has to be some sort of committee or patient advocate group that can help you so you find out what they are giving her? I will pray you get answers soon and I am praying for your mom. Saying my hardest prayers for you and your family.

 

[Ellen]

Deb, I sympathize with trying to catch a doc to find things out. You need to get rather demanding, with everyone. This is unacceptable, and you have every right to be updated/informed.


I hope they get everything straightened out with your mom soon.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 4/9/2008 7:20:36 AM
Author: AGBF


Thanks, Skippy. I had been unable to keep up with the thread. I want to thank everyone who responded to it. I had hoped to do so to everyone in order, but I fell hopelessly behind and then couldn''t even keep current with updates.

It has seemed useless to post updates because my mother''s situation seems endless. She left the hospital for a nursing home/rehab facility where she was starting to do the simplest acts in physical therapy (like standing from her wheelchair). Then she had a medical problem. We received a phone call saying that her platelet count was ''critically low'' and she was re-hospitalized. There she had seizures, so her anti-seizure medication was changed. She has also been unable to urinate, I think due to a UTI (urinary tract infection). They took her off one antibiotic she had been on for the infection (UTI) due to the low platelets but I do not know whether she is on anything else. It is impossible to find a doctor with whom to speak. I am thinking of writing a book, or at least a newspaper column, on the modern hospital and how it functions with doctors never speaking either to patients or their families. We can go for four or fivedays without seeing a doctor and never hear what anyone is thinking about my mother''s case or being told what medicines she is on. Apparently ''the team'' had her on steroids; when we heard it, it was news to us!

I love it that they are treating the ''critically low platelets'' without knowing the source of the problem. Why work up a problem if you can solve it by putting the patient on steroids?

Deborah

yea that''s modern medicine care for you....
3 ways too deal with it...
1: make friends with her nurses! they are the best source of information.
2: contact the hospital social services department and ask for help. They have people on staff too help with this and can point you too the right person at the min.
3: as a last resort contact the hospital administration.

It takes work too stay on top of it, they usually wont keep you informed.

prayers continue.

 

[justjulia]

Get your mom to give you power of medical attorney. (Form can be brought to hospital and signed in front of witnesses.)
Contact social services dept of the hospital and mention "patient''s rights."

 

[FrekeChild]

I''m sorry to hear that Deb. Sometimes it seems like the medical profession works against us...

 

[Kaleigh]

I agree with making friends with the nurses. You are her advocate, you''ll have to keep on top of every little thing. It''s hard, and shouldn''t be your job, but that''s what I found in taking care of Nanny. Hang in there Deb, sending prayers to you and your Mom.

 

[Nicrez]

Deb, I am so sorry to hear that! Also going through this with my own grandmother, and at the hospital they managed to give a fairly healthy 95 yr old woman so much liquid food she developed diabetes and they burned her leg and back of ears on the burning hot tubes they never tended. She had bed sores as well.

As others have said, the nurses are your best bet. If she is in a hopistal it''s a bit harder, but you have to ask to get periodic updates. In a nursing home, i feel it''s easier to ask for, but when the doctor checks her, he has to write things down. Request you get a weekly (or sooner) progress report each time the doctor checks her out. Getting her blood work-up, her vital signs and blood pressures, etc... these may not make sense 100% yet, but the more you see them, sometimes you can determine a tiny change and bring it up. Doctors have many patients, they often overlook details. Eye extra set of eyes can help.

I am so sorry for what you are going through... it''s so hard to see someone you love so much become dependant and helpless, which is why as much as I trust doctors, I just trust my own instincts as an excellent back-up!

I wish you luck and the best medical care your mother can receive!!!

 

[AGBF]

Thank you for responding to the topic of hospital care and the need for advocacy with such helpful suggestions, Skippy, Ellen, Storm, justjulia, Liz, Lisa, and Nicrez.

Somehow, without getting the satisfaction of good communication, we appear to be advocating successfully for my mother. There is a family member with her 12 hours a day unless circumstances are unusual. We most certainly try to befriend her nurses and all other hospital personnel! As some of you know, I am a social worker. One day when another patient (who turned out to an elderly woman who was extremely distressed and somewhat confused) was screaming I heard the nurse go into her room, then ask her if she could just wait a minute until she came back. Knowing the basic situation and that the woman only needed to be calmed until the nurse returned, I went into her room. I stayed with her, telling her she was in the hospital, explaining that being on this floor meant that she would be getting well, and calming her down. She had been just anguished, screaming for God to help her...and when the nurse eventually reappeared she thanked me for calming her. I must have been there for 15 or 20 minutes. So they know us on the floor!

I have worked in hospitals: as a candystriper (a volunteer); a nurse''s aide (between high school and college); a floor secretary; and a phlebotomist. Then when I decided to stop teaching and become a social worker I was placed on a pediatric floor at a large New York hospital as a social work intern. So I know how hospitals used to work.

It is the modern hospital the stuns me. Doctors used to make rounds at 7:00 am and see patients at least once a day. Now they never appear to see patients. They never appear to be available. They never appear at all. Where are they kept? Are they hidden somewhere? I have been told that many "regular" doctors no longer make rounds at hospitals. If that is so, that explains why one''s own private doctors, who might have cared, are no longer checking in.

The problem is that no one else appears to be taking over.

Also: with each admission one starts all over and has to explain everything. That is hard to do if one knows nothing since no doctor has been talking to him during the patient''s previous admission! One doesn''t even know what was done to him on the previous admission!

I tell you, there is a column in this. Maybe a book. Possibly a screenplay. Or was it already done? Remember, "Hospital"? And then there was, "Catch 22". I see elements of both of those in this farce.

Deb

 

[justjulia]

Oh I do totally understand what you mean about changing doctor''s shifts. I remember well feeling the angst when we were coming out of a weekend, or even the 7-11 or 11-7 shift and had to reaquaint ourselves with the new nurse--we were sometimes inwardly frantic. Then the waiting what seemed like an eternity to catch the doctor making the rounds, only to wait and wait and wait--not even wanting to go down for something to eat for fear of missing the dr rounds.

Hang in there.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Good news Deb!