Wednesday, January 23, 2008
1/23/2008
Good Morning everyone, Mom is still exactly as she has been for over a week as far as responding to outward stimulation. Her ammonia levels are very close to the normal range this morning, 34, 32 is in the normal range. The Doctor did tell us a few days ago that it could take 36 hours for her to respond after she is in the normal range, so we are not panicking this morning anyway. Mom is fighting an infection, maybe two, lung and urinary. So we are just waiting like we have been. The doctor has not come in yet this morning. Tomorrow will be her proceedure to check where she was bleeding. All for now. D
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Afternoon
Mom had her breathing tube changed to day and her brochial tubes cleaned out. The Doctor thinks she is developing pneumonia. So they have started her on two more antibiotics. She still has not become aware of anything. She survived both proceedures with flying colors. I got her hair washed a little today. The GI Dr. is here right now. He is checking to see of all her pipes are working right. Well he said the liver is doing its job fairly well for what all she has gone through. He plans to come on Thursday and recheck her esophagus to make sure he has all the veins clipped off that need clipped off. All for now D
1/23/2008
I have been offline for two days. But now have a computer again.
From some questions I have been getting (sorry I can't respond to all) It seems I have not explained things too well here.
The reason Mom was bleeding from her esophagus is because she has something wrong with her liver. We were in the process of finding out what was wrong and she actually was scheduled for a biopsy the day after all of this happened. Dialysis will not work to help get her ammonia down. Which brings me to......her level is 54 today, still have 20 to go.
Today the Doctor may have to replace her breathing tube. And he is thinking of going into lungs and doing what he calls a bronchial scope to clean them out. She has thick mucus in there. They are not saying it is pneumonia, yet anyway.
Mom's blood sugars are high, but it is from stress, she is on insulin now. They are still giving her enemas every eight hours and that is what they are doing to get the ammonia level down. There is a medicine called lactolos, I am not sure of the spelling but it is what is cleaning her bowels to remove the ammonia.
I can't say she is out of danger yet, but the numbers are getting better. We found out yesterday that if she woke up she would probably be out of head, the ammonia level makes it that way. So that is why she gets so agitated when they quit giving her so much pain meds and sedatives. Plus all the tubes etc must be very painful and uncomfortable. It is good she has been oblivious.
Today I tried to clean up her hair, it was so matted, we haven't felt safe enough to try till now. I may try to wash it in a bucket tomorrow as I only got the preliminary off. She was on her way to dread locks!! At times I thought oh I should just cut it off. But she would be so unhappy if I did.
From some questions I have been getting (sorry I can't respond to all) It seems I have not explained things too well here.
The reason Mom was bleeding from her esophagus is because she has something wrong with her liver. We were in the process of finding out what was wrong and she actually was scheduled for a biopsy the day after all of this happened. Dialysis will not work to help get her ammonia down. Which brings me to......her level is 54 today, still have 20 to go.
Today the Doctor may have to replace her breathing tube. And he is thinking of going into lungs and doing what he calls a bronchial scope to clean them out. She has thick mucus in there. They are not saying it is pneumonia, yet anyway.
Mom's blood sugars are high, but it is from stress, she is on insulin now. They are still giving her enemas every eight hours and that is what they are doing to get the ammonia level down. There is a medicine called lactolos, I am not sure of the spelling but it is what is cleaning her bowels to remove the ammonia.
I can't say she is out of danger yet, but the numbers are getting better. We found out yesterday that if she woke up she would probably be out of head, the ammonia level makes it that way. So that is why she gets so agitated when they quit giving her so much pain meds and sedatives. Plus all the tubes etc must be very painful and uncomfortable. It is good she has been oblivious.
Today I tried to clean up her hair, it was so matted, we haven't felt safe enough to try till now. I may try to wash it in a bucket tomorrow as I only got the preliminary off. She was on her way to dread locks!! At times I thought oh I should just cut it off. But she would be so unhappy if I did.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
1/20/2008
Yesterday Mom became very agitated. Her blood pressure went up to 200/82 and her heart rate went to 169 p/m So she is sedated once again. Her ammonia levels are still high actually went up today, from 87 to 103. The normal is 17-32. Anyway it is better to have her calm and comfortable she looked so miserable. Until the ammonia levels come down there will be no further investigation. ie; no neurological tests She gets xrays every morning to watch for pnemonia, and they are feeding her off and on. They doubled up on the medicine to flush the ammonia out of her blood system. So we are just here waiting and hoping she can pull through. If not, we are confident God will take care of her and us. Love Denise
Saturday, January 19, 2008
1/19/2008
Well this morning brings little change. Mom is still just moving her head, a leg now and then and her arm will rise a bit sometimes. It is so sad to see her like this. The awful swelling that was around her head and neck is going down, but her hands and feet are still swollen. We are supposing that her ammonia level is still high and this is why she is not awake. But I have fears it is more than that. I am trying to keep my hope up....but also want to be ready for her to go if this is what this means. Dad and Mike and I have a place to stay in a sharing House here by the hospital which makes it very convenient. It is $20 a night. My sister lives about 25 miles from here so she and her family go home every night. All for today. love Denise
Friday, January 18, 2008
Second Addition
Yesterday we had a scare, we thought mom was bleeding into her brain. Thank goodness she was not. She has a high level of amonia in her system from all the blood she swallowed and also from her liver not functioning at 100%
As of today at 4:00pm, she is still not responding to us. She is moving a little today, her head and her leg every once in a while. I am anxious and worried if she ever will respond again, but trying to keep up hope that this too will pass. I have so much I want to tell her. I'll try and keep this updated.
As of today at 4:00pm, she is still not responding to us. She is moving a little today, her head and her leg every once in a while. I am anxious and worried if she ever will respond again, but trying to keep up hope that this too will pass. I have so much I want to tell her. I'll try and keep this updated.
My MOM
My brother in law Chuck came up with the idea of putting a daily update on this blog site about my Mom. She is at the Sutter Memorial Hospital. In Sacramento. She has been here since early Tues. morning. Monday night 1/14 she and dad were getting ready for bed, and she went to the bathroom and felt like she was going to throw up. Well she did, and it was blood, she called Dad and he came and she said, I think It's ok, just help me to bed, I probably just broke a small vessel or something. Well Dad put his arm around her, and they started out. She then fainted and then more blood came up out of her mouth. Dad said I better call an ambulance, she said, oh you can drive me....and then more blood came out and she said do what you think you need to.
Well they went to Colusa hospital emergency room, and they did what they could to stop the blood and thought that maybe they had it stopped but felt she needed to be sent to an ICU room. This ICU here at Sutter Memorial was the closest room available in the area, it is about an hour and twenty minute drive from colusa. It was foggy so they could not life flight her, so ambulance again. By the time they got here Mom had almost bled out, Dad thought she was dead. So they filled her back up with blood, a total of 13 units by the time they finally got it full again. Then a Doctor GI Specialist, said I can as a last resort, go down her esophagus with a scope and see what is happening. So ok, if they thought she was not compromised in her brain, yes we want you to do it. He found 9 veins in her esophagus bleeding. He either cauterized, or rubber banded them and stopped the bleeding. Oh forgot she was put on a ventilator, so then she could not communicate any more. Before she was unable to talk she was being the strong one, and telling everyone not to worry about her.
For the first two days they have kept her sedated, and she has had her eyes shut, and does not respond to any voice. Yesterday we had high hopes because they said they were going to wake her up and wean her from the breathing tube. Well hour after hour passed and she did not wake up. So in the afternoon, finally a Doctor came, and he said we better check for brain bleeding. We were all devastated. So once again, wait, two hours later we get the results, hooray, no brain bleeding. Her amonia levels are too high, that is why she is not responding, so they put her on medication to get it under control. The amonia level may be high because of all the blood she had in her stomach.
Well they went to Colusa hospital emergency room, and they did what they could to stop the blood and thought that maybe they had it stopped but felt she needed to be sent to an ICU room. This ICU here at Sutter Memorial was the closest room available in the area, it is about an hour and twenty minute drive from colusa. It was foggy so they could not life flight her, so ambulance again. By the time they got here Mom had almost bled out, Dad thought she was dead. So they filled her back up with blood, a total of 13 units by the time they finally got it full again. Then a Doctor GI Specialist, said I can as a last resort, go down her esophagus with a scope and see what is happening. So ok, if they thought she was not compromised in her brain, yes we want you to do it. He found 9 veins in her esophagus bleeding. He either cauterized, or rubber banded them and stopped the bleeding. Oh forgot she was put on a ventilator, so then she could not communicate any more. Before she was unable to talk she was being the strong one, and telling everyone not to worry about her.
For the first two days they have kept her sedated, and she has had her eyes shut, and does not respond to any voice. Yesterday we had high hopes because they said they were going to wake her up and wean her from the breathing tube. Well hour after hour passed and she did not wake up. So in the afternoon, finally a Doctor came, and he said we better check for brain bleeding. We were all devastated. So once again, wait, two hours later we get the results, hooray, no brain bleeding. Her amonia levels are too high, that is why she is not responding, so they put her on medication to get it under control. The amonia level may be high because of all the blood she had in her stomach.
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