Wednesday, August 4, 2004
My mother is in the hospital...
...as I write, for what has been diagnosed, initially, as a TIA (transient ischemic attack). I say "initially" because whatever happened to her, she has been recommended for intense, short term rehabilitative therapy in a skilled nursing facility, to which she will be transferred from the hospital, in order to reverse the effects of her "TIA", despite the fact that the buzz word on TIAs is that, and I am quoting from the hospital literature provided to patients who have suffered TIAs, "The effects of a TIA are usually completely gone within 24 hours." Her "effects" are not "completely" and quickly leaving, as the literature says they "usually" do. Her right side has been affected. It seems that her TIA probably occurred in the same lower left quadrant of her brain wherein she mini-stroked some years ago, a mini-stroke that was not discovered until some years later, in September 2002, when she was admitted to the same hospital for a medically induced blood pressure crash (which was also labeled a TIA).
At any rate, as a result of this "event" she is suffering pronounced weakness on her right side, including the collapsing of her right knee which began some time last week and, since Sunday, August 1, the inability to hold her right side up for more than seconds at a time. Since I took her to the hospital in Mesa where she typically receives care directed by her PCP in Mesa she has recovered some. Her "sitting" strength is good in all limbs but, when on her feet she is unable to mobilize [Don't you just love medical jargon?!?] well, even with the aid of a walker. Her health care providers, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, etc., are quite optimistic about her ability to recover most if not all of her mobility skills and her strength with the help of short term, live-in, skilled nursing facility therapy.
Her mind is unaffected. As usual, she is blossoming in the rays of attention she is receiving at the hospital. Her spirit, will, wit and durability are firmly intact, as is her sense of herself and her ability to present herself to others as others expect her to be from their experience of her. As I write this I'm smiling. She's a pistol, which is appropriate, considering her naval career during WWII.
Her appetite is strong. She not only remembered but advertised her birthday on Monday, she has won the hearts of all members of the staff "waiting" on her at the hospital and I think she is enjoying the independence under which she is operating due to me commuting daily between Mesa and Prescott in order to oversee her care.
Because of the two previous hospital experiences we've endured (me as her caregiver/care overseer) in the very recent (in Prescott), recent (in Mesa) and distant (in Mesa) pasts and the exhaustion I've experienced since the middle of last week negotiating her suddenly appearing and alarmingly, increasingly accelerating right side weakness, I was completely unsure of my ability to adequately direct her care under the hands of hospital staff again so soon. Somehow, though, I pulled it together on our way down the mountain from Prescott and have been, once again, magnificent.
I will write much more in what my readers have come to know as my excrutiating detail in the days to come as I am able. Right now, work on her behalf is more intense than usual, especially in regard to negotiating the selection of the proper facility for her. I'm lucky in that MPBIL is a powerful, long standing, well known health care MSW in the area and is helping me negotiate the morass of detail involved in the selection of a facility.
I'm very optimistic about the present status and prognosis for both my mother and me of this particular episode in my mother's life. We both seem to be exhibiting reserves of strength and resilience of which neither of us knew ourselves or the other was capable. This, in itself, is energizing.
East Coast business hours, which figure prominently in this particular path of our journey, will begin shortly. I need to shower and begin phone negotiations, then prepare for my daily trip down the mountain to see to my mother and the details of her care there.
Far from being down and out, my mother and I are up and functioning at full operating capacity with hopeful spirits and constantly, almost miraculously renewing energy. I can't wait to see how this adventure unfolds.
Amazing grace. Amazing.
At any rate, as a result of this "event" she is suffering pronounced weakness on her right side, including the collapsing of her right knee which began some time last week and, since Sunday, August 1, the inability to hold her right side up for more than seconds at a time. Since I took her to the hospital in Mesa where she typically receives care directed by her PCP in Mesa she has recovered some. Her "sitting" strength is good in all limbs but, when on her feet she is unable to mobilize [Don't you just love medical jargon?!?] well, even with the aid of a walker. Her health care providers, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, etc., are quite optimistic about her ability to recover most if not all of her mobility skills and her strength with the help of short term, live-in, skilled nursing facility therapy.
Her mind is unaffected. As usual, she is blossoming in the rays of attention she is receiving at the hospital. Her spirit, will, wit and durability are firmly intact, as is her sense of herself and her ability to present herself to others as others expect her to be from their experience of her. As I write this I'm smiling. She's a pistol, which is appropriate, considering her naval career during WWII.
Her appetite is strong. She not only remembered but advertised her birthday on Monday, she has won the hearts of all members of the staff "waiting" on her at the hospital and I think she is enjoying the independence under which she is operating due to me commuting daily between Mesa and Prescott in order to oversee her care.
Because of the two previous hospital experiences we've endured (me as her caregiver/care overseer) in the very recent (in Prescott), recent (in Mesa) and distant (in Mesa) pasts and the exhaustion I've experienced since the middle of last week negotiating her suddenly appearing and alarmingly, increasingly accelerating right side weakness, I was completely unsure of my ability to adequately direct her care under the hands of hospital staff again so soon. Somehow, though, I pulled it together on our way down the mountain from Prescott and have been, once again, magnificent.
I will write much more in what my readers have come to know as my excrutiating detail in the days to come as I am able. Right now, work on her behalf is more intense than usual, especially in regard to negotiating the selection of the proper facility for her. I'm lucky in that MPBIL is a powerful, long standing, well known health care MSW in the area and is helping me negotiate the morass of detail involved in the selection of a facility.
I'm very optimistic about the present status and prognosis for both my mother and me of this particular episode in my mother's life. We both seem to be exhibiting reserves of strength and resilience of which neither of us knew ourselves or the other was capable. This, in itself, is energizing.
East Coast business hours, which figure prominently in this particular path of our journey, will begin shortly. I need to shower and begin phone negotiations, then prepare for my daily trip down the mountain to see to my mother and the details of her care there.
Far from being down and out, my mother and I are up and functioning at full operating capacity with hopeful spirits and constantly, almost miraculously renewing energy. I can't wait to see how this adventure unfolds.
Amazing grace. Amazing.
