Oh My Gosh

So, Mom got fixed up by the Weekend Wonder Nurse. Mom's regular hospice nurse did not come Monday, which surprised me. In the past, if we had an event over the weekend, Christy has arrived the following Monday to check on Mom. She came Tuesday and checked Mom over. Mom was very short of breath and Christy recommended using oxygen all the time. Mom was not ready to try that, even though the oxygen while sleeping makes such a difference. Although she was on day four of lasix, Mom still had a noticeable amount of edema. Christy called the hospice doctor, who concluded that Mom's swelling/edema/pooling will not go away at this point. We will continue to manage it with lasix as long as Mom's blood pressure and potassium hold out. He also prescribed a potassium supplement. The options for that were horse pill or liquid suspension. We chose liquid, and found that it tastes so awful Mom won't take it. Alrighty then, we'll just concentrate on foods high in potassium. Anyone care for a banana?

Tuesday night, Meg's back hurt. Then her stomach hurt. Then it really hurt and she felt nauseous. I figured she had some stomach bug and would feel better after she threw up. But she didn't feel better. Meg's symptoms continued unabated, even with phenergan. The stomach and back pain was constant, sometimes stabbing. Meg was crying and confused. My first clue that this was turning into an emergency was when Meg asked, "Why are they doing that?" Her hands were drawing up out of her control. Shortly after that her eyes began crossing and rolling and I knew it was time to go.

Dave stayed home with Mom and the other kids (all asleep), and I drove Meg to the emergency room. I am not fond of the emergency room. Meg has never been. When we arrived, I felt a little silly explaining we were there because my daughter was throwing up, and only for the past few hours. Happily (?), Meg must have looked wan enough that they sat her right down to take vitals. No fever, but her blood pressure was 80-something over 50-something. Yikes! We had a very short wait, then were whisked back to an er room and they started an iv on Meg. Meg looked over at me and asked, "When are you going to sleep?" Sweet girl.

Soon they added morphine and something for nausea to the iv. Inexplicably, they gave her something by mouth for nausea. Of course, she gave it right back shortly afterwards. Her O2 levels were low, so they gave her oxygen. Meg said, "I'm like Grandma. I have oxygen and morphine." The doctor ordered a CT scan, which showed inflammation in Meg's bowels. There was concern of an obstruction. They wanted to keep Meg for the rest of the night and next day to observe and stabilize. Again, we didn't have to wait long before we were whisked to the pediatric wing of the hospital. Meg had a nice room with a nice nurse and by that time was very comfortable. I went home so I would be there for Mom when she woke up, and tag teamed with Dave, who spent the wee hours and the day with Meg at the hospital.

It turns out there was no obstruction and no surgery was needed. Meg's bowels "went to sleep" (correct medical term: ileus) and her colon got backed up. Then they "woke up," things started moving again, and we had one worn out girl at home Wednesday night.

Oh my gosh.