Update on Rona's mom
Dear Friends,
Sorry for the impersonal mass email but time is so limited these days that I'm just working at cramming in everything in a convenient fashion - hence the mass email.
My mom went into intensive care at Baptist Montclair on Wednesday. She had a condition called Hypercalcemia. I won't go into alot of detail about it but the doc told us if she hadn't come into the hospital she would have died within 24 to 48 hours. The doctor told us that he'd never seen calcium levels that high in a woman her age that wasn't the result of a malignancy. They told us that she probably had multiple myeloma which is an incurable cancer of the blood. They told us there was also the possibility that she had lymphoma. They began a vigorous round of tests. On Thursday evening the endocrinologist told us she didn't think my mom had cancer but that she'd ingested something not meant for ingestion (possibly Windex or something similar) that caused her calcium levels to skyrocket. She said this was the result of a condition called Paranoid Dementia. My mom had confessed to eating baking soda (I have no clue why) and we know that she has mild to moderate
Alzheimers or senility. We thought we were out of the woods and we were going to get her some psychiatric help for the Paranoid Dementia and get her meds regulated. She's 78, by the way. They put her in a regular room on Thursday. She was very confused but seemed to be getting better. My mom agreed to allow the staff to put her in soft restraints so she wouldn't try to get out of bed during the night so that my dad and Wade and I could go home at night to sleep and rest. The hospital called my house at 4:45 a.m. on Friday and said her pulse had dropped to 32 beats per minute and they were moving her back to intensive care. Even though her pulse rate was low her mental state had improved. The doctors told us they had no idea why her pulse was so low and told us they were going to have to put in a temporary pacemaker. We visited her at 9:00 and had a good visit - she seemed more normal than she'd been in the past couple of days. The ICU staff called us just before
noon and said something was going on. Her pulse rate was soaring and she was combative and out of her head. My dad and I went back there and she didn't know us one minute and was silly and sweet and childish and the next minute she did know who we were and she was yelling at us and trying to hit us and throw things at us. The doctors said they couldn't take her to surgery in this condition. They gave her Ativan to calm her and she slept for about 15 minutes and then woke up as confused and aggitated and combative as ever. She had to be placed in soft restraints on all extremities. The doctors finally determined the episode was an allergic reaction to Phenergan. They said it should wear off in about 2 hours. Then they said if it didn't wear off in 2 hours there was a possibility it would never wear off. Apparently this is due to her age. Some of the well meaning nurses in the ICU said things like "I saw this happen to one lady and she never got over it" and one even
said "I saw this happen to one lady and she didn't make it". They didn't mean to be insensitive but you can imagine that this just really concerned us. It is now 2:00 on Sunday afternoon and they have moved my mom to the cardiac floor. We don't know why she is on the cardiac floor. We haven't spoken with a doctor since Friday. Today when we asked the staff to just try and tell us exactly what's wrong with her we got a dozen different stories. One doctor is still saying it could be a malignancy and the other is saying she accidentally poisoned herself by ingesting something. When I asked about the conflicting reports one nurse said "Dr. So and So is smarter than Dr. So and So". Well...................I guess that just leaves us in the dark. I sure wish I had her at Medical Center East where I'd at least know who to ask questions. DeNene!!! I miss having you as a wonderful reference! She is sleeping very soundly (and snoring loudly - ha ha) for the first time in
days. This is as good for my dad as it is for my mom. This has been terribly difficult for him and he cries so much - he fears he will have to put her in a nursing home but we are believing she is going to get over this. It's hard to explain just how remarkable her mental decline has been. It's almost unbelievable.
I am going back to work tomorrow. I need a little sanity (and a little money). I hope to stay all day and that she won't have any crisis.
Wade and I are going home at 3:00 or 3:30 today to try and do some laundry and get some rest. The boys are taking turns staying with Grandma and Grandaddy (welcome to adult responsibility).
Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Please keep it up!
Terri and Brandon - I'm sorry we missed your dinner at Sal's last night - we'd have enjoyed being with you and we'd have enjoyed the good food too!
Wes - Thank you for handling the meeting. What would any of us ever do without you?? I know it was a rousing success!
Jill and Amanda - Thank you for handling things at the meeting even though you were busy taking care of Amanda after surgery. Tell Jodi I'm so sorry we didn't get to see her again and say good-bye.
Terri (my sister) - I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to call you today and I can't remember if I talked to you yesterday. I'll try to call you tonight or tomorrow.
Sonya and DeNene - I plan to be there for the nutrition class tomorrow. If not - all the materials are in my mailbox on the 3rd floor and I know you can just wing it. You can put everything, including paperwork from admitting, into interoffice mail to me and I'll get it charged out but I really think I'll be there.
The psychiatrist just came to see my mom but didn't talk to her since she was sleeping. She said they were taking her off the Ativan because it was good while she was taking it but would not give good long term effects. She put her on Rispadil instead. I'm not sure what that is. She also put her on Aricept in the hopes it would prevent any further mental decline. She said they were going to evaluate her once she was medically stable. I'm glad.
Thanks again to everyone for everything. We're looking forward to getting back to normal soon.
Sincerely,
Rona