...have been around for a couple weeks, now.
Our first to show is the woodbine, or Virginia Creeper. A piece of it coils up the trunk of a tree I can see at the edge of the window. Three weeks ago, I saw my first turned leaf. About a week later, I found red dogwood leaves on the path up to Mom's house. Last week, the sumacs by the mailbox sported red leaves. This past weekend, a row of freshly fallen yellow and brown leaves lined da Lane, blown there by a very careful wind.
Today I can count over a dozen red leaves on the Virginia Creeper.
I find myself looking forward to the fall cooling. Between the extraordinary humidity/heat this August and the side-effects of chemo and radiation, I've been a real cool-seeker lately.
Yesterday afternoon's treatment went smoothly; both machines were back up and running. We were out of there quickly enough that Kevin managed to do the weekly shopping while I tidied up da Green House for a meeting with new Web Design clients.
Today we started our first morning trip to the hospital for radiotherapy. We managed to avoid the two morning 'rush-quarter-hours.' I guess we do have a traffic rush hour here if you add up the two short rushes we have in the morning with the two we have in the late afternoon. *laughs*
We've learned that they can often take us earlier than 8:00 a.m., so we're trying to be there between 7:30 and 7:45. Tomorrow our appointment is actually at 7:45 because we have a hematology appointment and an appointment with Dr. C. This blood scan is to see how my red and white blood cells are holding up to the current therapy.
Mom is beginning to show signs that are concerning us. Her hands are often purple/blue from the wrist down, despite our trying to keep them moving and massaged. We don't know if they're spoon feeding her at the daycare or not, but she's losing the ability to control the fork or spoon herself. Her legs from the knee down are often icy cold (though never purple or blue, yet).
Last week she started emitting a yellowish foam around the catheter tube. A nurse is scheduled to see her this Thursday afternoon. We'll let you know what we learn. She says she feels fine and from all outward appearances she seems to be doing well and not really aware of anything noted above. She needs a few more prompts and reminders in the late afternoon and evening, but then again, so do I these daze...
Thanks for all of the Anniversary wishes and comments.
I wish I could say I haven't written here since last Friday because I've been off doing important things. Mostly, I've just been off... *blinks*
Howz by you??
6 comments:
Watch out for urinary track infection. It knocked my Mom on her rear. Works really fast on old folks.
That would be TRACT infection. I'm not sure what a urinary "track" is, but at my age I would not win the race.
dp- I ran it past Olive...she says a UTI is not that unusual with a catheter ...that is why they were so reluctant to put the catherer in. She says sometimes they don't even treat the UTI with a catheter...unless there are other symptoms. The coloring and cold issue..ciculatory..if she says she feels cold, ask her if she wants gloves on. As long as Marie feels good, Olive is not overly concerned, but feels the nurse visit is a good idea.xxoo
--She also wondered what Nancy thought. :) I reminded her Nancy is the baby nurse..she is the geriatric nurse.
And now I'm a part-time Orthopedic rehab nurse. I agree with Olive, and I know dp is familiar with catheter-related UTI's. Can Marie feel that her hands are cold? I know she doesn't have much feeling left in her feet. I wonder if wrist braces would help?
We've noticed the smell of fall in the air here as well.
Did anyone see the lunar eclipse Monday night?
We're undecided as to whether it's a UTI or a yeast infection.
And, yes, Katie, that's why _we_ decided I should manually cath her; all of the medical personnel wanted us to do the catheter in 2004.
We only did it when I had to stop providing full time care in April because it's less expensive to have people come in and just deal with her feces; it would have been $50/cath otherwise and that adds us to $200/day just for the catheterization.
And, this isn't the first infection we've dealt with since they installed the thing. While the bag is emptied more than once daily, the VNA is only reimbursed to change it monthly. Wanna see something gross, let us know...
She's had circulatory probs for years. As NancyTurtle noted, she's had no sensation from the knee down since both ankles were broken in 2004. She often feels 'cold all over,' but rarely does she complain of her hands being cold.
We believe the coloration is just evidence that her circulatory system is shutting down. Small wonder since she doesn't move at all except from lying down in bed to sitting in her chair.
My post wasn't so much concern for Mom, but rather an update. We now have two nurses who see her from two different agencies, along with her podiatrist who makes home visits. Although none of us had seen the yellow foamy secretion before...
A nurse practitioner will see her this afternoon; we'll bring Mom home from daycare early today. Following her appointment, she'll also get a massage. Her color was great after her last massage, so we think it's helping with the circulation probs. *shrugs*
Re the lunar eclipse: we thought it was to happen Tues eve/night as that was the date of the full moon, so no, we missed it. *sighs* Got great stories of it from those who did see it, though *grins*
CraniumMan: Kevin makes urinary tracks every time he pees off the stump in the back yard *chortles*
Kiera, makes urinary puddles when she pulls off her dipper and doesn't make it to the toilet.
dennis
Post a Comment