One Journey After Diabetic Coma

(Marilyn) We took our Bob Evans meal and a few pies over to NHC around noon and had a lovely time with Linda.  But as the day went on, she became a bit agitated, asking again where Mother was.  She tried to get out of the wheelchair and when we asked her what she was doing she said she had to go find Mother.  So we had to tell her -- again -- that Mother died 20 years ago and she went into a short depression. Then she became obsessed about where her car was and when Tricia told her over and over that her car was in Mountain View, she called Tricia a liar. I came home around 4 to feed my fur babies and Tricia said around 6:00 Linda became more lucid. But all in all it was a lovely Thanksgiving (all things considered) ... PS: She started complaining about pain in her side, supposedly from the last fall, so they took x-rays yesterday and we should have results tomorrow.

 (Marilyn) Well, she fell again.  The nurses are going to try to actually schedule bathroom trips so she won't wait till she really feels the urge and tries to do it on her own, which ends up in her falling.  Although lately she says she no longer feels the urge at all, so we need to figure that out.  If it's not one thing, it's another, right? All of a sudden she's been asking about Daddy and Daddy died 40 years ago. Tricia and I are planning to take Thanksgiving dinner (from Bob Evans, yum) to NHC on Thursday.  Ed will take off to be with his family.    That's it for today.

(Marilyn) Well, Linda has now fallen almost every day in the past week.  She does not appear to have hurt herself.  The good thing about the falls is that she is now actively working at walking and going to the bathroom by herself, etc. I went to see her this morning and she was sleeping and dead to the world.  I sat there having coffee for about 25 minutes and then decided I would go back home and let her sleep.  Wouldn't you know that about 5 minutes after I left, Tricia got a call saying Linda had fallen again.  I was blown away that she went from sleeping to walking to falling that quickly. I've been taking time off from going to NHC.  Linda and I aren't getting along all that well and my visits just get her worked up.  Plus, I go in the mornings and she is different in the morning from her evening personality. In the morning she is cantankerous and somewhat mean.  But in the evening -- when Tricia and Ed are there -- she is alert and on the ball.  I have to admit it fe

(Marilyn) Linda is now an escape risk.  Tried to leave the facility on several occasions so they have put an electronic monitoring device on her.  She had a meltdown when they put it on her.  As she appears to get a bit better, the challenges get trickier.

 (Marilyn) Tricia and Ed are out of town for a few days.  So Linda is getting less visits.  I was there this morning until she kicked me out.  But while I was there, she took off in her wheelchair and started going into other people's rooms looking for a stretcher.  I asked her why she wanted a stretcher and she said, "I was brought here on a stretcher so I can leave on a stretcher if I can find one."

(Marilyn) This morning when I was getting ready to go see Linda, my neighbor Betty came by to tell me that even though she and her husband had had their two COVID shots as well as the booster they have tested positive for COVID,  I spent a little time with Betty last Wednesday so I was a bit worried about going to the nursing home, Tricia and I tried to find a place for a rapid test and couldn’t find one.  So I got an over-the-counter at-home test.  It was a NEGATIVE so I felt comfortable.  And I always wear a mask.  So I went to see Linda and she has gotten more and more mean.  We argue for a few hours and then I go home. My common sense tells me that it’s not her fault but it is still very difficult to sit there and listen to her berate me and fight with me.  UGH!!

(Tricia) Yesterday, I took Linda out of the facility for the second time since she went there for a follow-up appointment with her endocrinologist. On the one hand, it seemed a lot of trouble for an interaction that likely could have been done via telehealth. But on the other, I thought it would be good for Linda to get out of that place for a little while, so I didn't push the issue. Unlike our last trip to the doctor, when the driver was an hour late to pick us up and an hour late to take us back, this time we booked our own medical transportation with a different service. Yesterday, our driver arrived early, stayed in the parking lot throughout our appointment, and took us back as soon as we were done. He was wonderful. Although Linda's blood sugar readings have had a few outliers that were really low or really high, the overall pattern is seeming to stabilize, so Dr. Ramanathan was pleased overall. The main problem, she and I both agreed, was food: The skilled nursing facil

 (Marilyn) Well, Linda has good days and bad days.  She had some really good physical therapy but then today she was a bit out of it.  Tricia and I brought lunch and we had a really nice lunch together, but then Linda started reverting.   When we got there today, we learned that Linda fell again, trying to go to the bathroom by herself.  She simply refuses to call a nurse.  She evidently was on the floor for a while before someone saw her and got her up.  I asked her why she didn't call out and she said she is not going to ask for help.  So Tricia and I have decided that we are going to insist that when she needs help she needs to call the nurse herself, we won't take over for her. On a different note, the "entertainment" last week was a guy who brought in a bunch of reptiles to talk about and let people hold.  Linda didn't want to go but I wheeled her down there anyway.  It turned out to be very interesting.  So here I am holding a baby alligator.  Then the guy d

 (Marilyn) I can’t keep up with everything that’s been going on, so I will just kind of summarize the highlights of what I remember and when/if things ever slow down Tricia can elaborate and/or correct my memory. Linda is still loopy in the morning and relatively lucid as the day goes on.  She still thinks that Mother is alive and is cooking her meals.  She told me today that a doctor came to see her and told her that Christmas has been canceled. We had an appointment for a colonoscopy at the order of the gastroenterologist and the nurses were prepared to do the prep, etc.  But over the weekend the doctor called Tricia and said he would not do a colonoscopy on a patient who has been diagnosed with C-Diff.  So it was canceled.  Which meant going back to everyone involved and telling them the direction has changed. He said Linda should see an infectious disease doctor. Then Dr. Izzy herself also called Tricia (glory be!) saying she would try to find an infectious disease doctor. We had a