Must be Back to School Time

School dreams are starting! Wouldn't you think one would need to sleep in order to have dreams?!

3 dreams I remember:
1. The Pope coming to visit some teachers, and we had to be naked. I'm the one who figured out he wasn't really the Pope. (duh!)
2. Slamming a misbehaving boy to the floor and holding him down by the neck.
3. Todd & I going to college together and looking for an apartment.
4. Teaching a class of about 80 with my friend Monica & we weren't doing a very good job of it (see #2!).

I hope none of those come true!!! We'll find out soon . . .

Thursday's Update

I'm going to make this brief because I am exhausted tonight. I was only at the hospital for about seven hours today, but time is catching up with me!

My mom was moved late this evening to the Intermediate Care Unit (IMC), which is a step-down unit from the ICU. She walked today with a walker & that wore her out. So, between the walking, moving to a new room, sitting up in a chair for several hours, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, eating, & chatting with a few visitors (mainly hospital staff!) - she was a busy girl and absolutely worn out. I helped her with dinner, got the nurses to get her back in bed, set up her new room, tucked her in, kissed her goodnight & left around 7:15. She was out before I left the room. :)

We are hearing some more comments such as:
"This place is boring"
"There's nothing to do here"
"These people (nurses just like her!) won't leave me alone"
"I hate RT" (respiratory therapy)
"I need my makeup bag"
"I'm ready to get home"
"I don't want pain meds in case I have company" (yeah, we had a talk about that)

Once I told Mom that she can't even get herself out of bed or cut her own meat, she thought about staying. When she had a big episode of nausea & dizziness right before moving to the new unit, she looked at me and said, "I guess it's a good thing that I'm still here and not home." Ya think???!!! Stubborn woman.

It's looking like Mom may be headed home by Monday. That will be within the predicted seven days of hospital stay that the surgeon told her before she was admitted. That will be when it becomes difficult to keep her down.

Thanks for the prayers. She's doing well and still has a long road ahead of her. Several of you have told me to take care of myself and I am. I'm just tired because I'm fat and old!

Wednesday Afternoon/Evening

Today Mom is beginning to turn the corner. She sat up in a chair for almost 7 total hours today! Mom is absolutely wiped out, but she is starting to feel better. Tomorrow the plan is to move her into the Immediate Care Unit & she will be up and walking as well.

After the 12noon - 2pm visiting shift, I went into the waiting room so Mom would get some sleep. (She thinks she needs to entertain if anyone is in there.) I tried to take a quick nap and was slowly entering a bit of a twilight phase when my cell phone rang. It was Mom's work number, so I figured it was her colleagues calling to check on her. When I answered, I heard this raspy, whispery voice. "Hi. You need to call your brother and tell him . . . blahblahblahblah." Yep, mom borrowed the nurse's phone to call me and give orders! I asked her if I needed to come in there & she told me to come by later. When I told her I was in the waiting room, she said, "Oh! Come in here and sit with me." I also knew that Mom was starting to feel better today when she cracked a couple of jokes, wanted some mascara, said she was hungry, and complained that "this place is boring". She'll be up & running the hospital again in no time.

There were a couple of entertaining times today when my mom was having some dreams/hallucinations around 1:00 after a dose of morphine. One of her chest tubes was removed, so they gave her pain meds to get through it smoothly. She had dreams of a patient trying to swallow, thought she had a picture in her (empty) hand, and thought the sytrofoam cups on her table were "buckets". There will be some great stories that we can use for torturing her later. :)

The next couple of days will be especially difficult on my mom since she will be exerted physically. It will be hard for us to keep her relaxed and preventing her from overdoing it. Thanks for all the continued thoughts, prayers, calls, emails, pages, texts, and comments. They really mean the world to my mother, our family, and me.

It's Wednesday, right?

Day #3 - less than 48 hours post-op. I'm on the 10am - 10pm shift here at the hospital, so I haven't seen Mom yet since visiting hours aren't again until noon. Her nurse is wonderful and nice, but quite the Nazi about the rules. I did go back to tell Nurse Nazi that I'm here, but I was scared to ask if I could just look at my mom! Enough about me and N.N. - now to the patient.

Yesterday's stuff:
- significant pain finally hit today & I reminded her that she knows the day after surgery is worse than the day of
- had the arterial line (like a big IV in her neck)removed
- she was moved in bed which caused much pain
- drank some apple juice, but still preferred ice (one of her fave words right now is "ice")
- told me (via very light whispers) that she "didn't know it was going to be this bad"
- asked about everyone and asked if WE are all okay (I told her not to worry about us & take care of herself, but that's not in her nature.)

- Michael (my baby brother) was here a lot yesterday & made Mom grin. She told us she was "proud of us". Again, never about her just about everyone else.

Today's stuff:
Rick (my mom's husband) took the early visit this morning & when he walked in, Mom's bed was empty. It scared him until he saw Mom sitting up in a chair. She was still in pain but a little more alert and her voice was slightly above a whisper. Rick said she sat up for about three hours and was then exhausted & went to sleep after pain meds.

Mom complained yesterday & this morning that it hurt to breathe & doctors determined her lungs have been very slightly compromised (for lack of a better term by me) She's on IV antibiotics, working on lung-strengthening exercises & coughing some (ouch).

I'll go in to check on her at noon & post again later. Until then, another picture. Here's Mom a few years ago while working in the ER - just two floors below us right now.

Update on My Mom

Rather than send out random emails here & there, I decided to use this-here blog to post how my mom is doing. That way anyone who wants to check in can do so at their convenience & hopefully it will be more convenient/easy for me. Where to start??? It's already been a long day & a half. I appreciate all of the phone calls, emails, pages, texts and posts to check in. Unfortunately, I'm not doing too well at managing it all, so here's an update!

First of all, my Mom's surgery went very well. Rather than replace the mitral valve, the surgeon was able to repair it. That's a HUGE praise because it will hopefully eliminate the need for future replacement surgery or being on medication for the rest of her life. The surgery took less than 2 hours - about half the time that was anticipated.

The respiratory therapist extubated mom's breathing tube & NG (nasal gastric) tube late last night. After that, the nurses were able to give her more medication and remove the hand restraints. (The restraints are used to prevent patients from removing tubes, lines, etc.) She has an arterial line in her neck, multiple IVs in both arms, drains, etc. She's down to just the IVs, so until then, she looked like she was lying in the middle of a cockpit.

Last night when she first began to wake up, I went to check on her. The nurse said she was semi-alert & to talk to her. As soon as I said "Hi Mom," her eyes shot open. I told her she was okay & I saw her moving her hands (still restrained). I pulled the sheet off her hand and she was signing "I Love You" with her right hand. I smiled. :)

Today she is in a lot of pain. She's not able to talk, but she can lightly whisper and mouth words. She told me earlier that "This is a lot worse than I thought it would be." Yep, she's hurting. Mom asked if I was okay and then asked about her mom (Mary), Rick, Michael & everyone else in the world. Can't she just be the patient for once??? Worrying about and caring for others is what she does - and she does it well.

Luckily Mom is at her hospital (meaning where she works for those that don't know she's a nurse), so she and the nurses and know one another personally. Everyone is taking great care of her.

As my eyelids continue to fall and my head to nod (at 2:45pm mind you!), I'll close with an updated request and an entertaining photo. Please pray that mom's pain continues to be managed well and that she can remain fairly comfortable. Pray that her recovery process is successful as well.

PS - Please excuse any errors in this post. I'm too tired to care if anything is wrong.

Mom and me, circa 1970:

Monday

Please pray for my mom. Her surgery is tomorrow (Monday). I know she will do well, but I am still scared and anxious for everything to go smoothly over the next couple of weeks.

It's Been Fun

But my summer is pretty much OVER. I start a week of Math curriculum training tomorrow and from there . . . they have me for another nine months! BACK TO SCHOOL!

No more sleeping in. No more staying up late. Back to long days, working hard, heat-stroke recess duty, noisy cafeteria duty. I'm actually looking forward to this year, but I'll miss my summer!