Thanks to many more: Jeannette, Kimberly M., Barbara, Angel, Cherie, chopper pilot of N95CH, front desk/night security, Dr. Jimmy Jackson and staff, hospitality/volunteers, medical eqpt suppliers.
The Earth turns.
“Due to the possibility of interference with medical equipment, it is recommended that you turn your cell phone off in this area. Thank you.”
You’re welcome!
I’m not a doctor. I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
I’m part of the generation that created the ability for people to Google their health.
More of what I know about my mother in-law’s condition: syncope?
Are some phrases ever overused?
You know, “Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up.” [or the cinema version, “Never give up, never surrender!“]
I’ll quote Jimmy Valvano’s speech a little more (from here):
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.
“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all.”
During his speech the teleprompter stated that he had 30 seconds left, to which Valvano responded, “They got that screen up there flashing 30 seconds, like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I’m worried about some guy in the back going 30 seconds.” He died less than two months later.
In the past three days, the doctors thought my mother in-law had lost the use of her left side. The doctors thought my mother in-law had lost the ability to swallow. The doctors have said that, at 94, my mother in-law’s road to recovery from stroke is probably going to be too long, considering the increased chance of the next major stroke, to be worth the effort.
And yet, here she is, after her second time getting up to use the bedside commode with assistance, urinating about 600 mL, asking to get dressed for the day.
Sure, she’s tired. The only nutrition besides water she’s had since Wednesday evening is 6 ounces of apple juice.
In a little while, I’ll see if she wants something more substantive – apple sauce, yogurt or ice cream.
If she wants to make herself better, I’ll assist her, as will the rest of the family, as we have done in the past four years and three previous “spells” in 2007, 2008, and April of this year.
My mother in-law is a quiet fighter full of fortitude, one of the last members of the Greatest Generation – her two children by birth, a son and a daughter, becoming a physicist and rocket engineer, respectively, and her “adopted” daughter, or charge, marrying and supporting a man who became a gastroenterologist.
Because of the doctors’ recommendation to let my mother in-law go quietly into the night, we held back our hope that she’d recover this time.
Of course, she could have a major stroke or myocardial infarction at any time.
Life is uncertain so keep making your way through life with certainty, no matter whether you’re a member of the Greatest Generation or the Un-Generation.
Time for this caretaker to help his mother in-law gain strength.
Family first, galaxy second.
There are so many people to thank, I don’t know where to start.
The players? Da’Rick, Simms and the other young guys…
The teams? St. Louis Cardinals, perhaps…
Health care providers? T’ Rona, Amy, Melissa, Lana, Courtney, Zach, Tyler, Dr. Arora, Dr. Man, Dr. Mandge, Jennifer, Christel, Debbie, Tonya, Dr. Kimpel, Laura, Lauren, Julia, Bryan, Shannon, Kimberlee, Sandra, Tana, Katy, Paris, Dr. Jia… [the list to be continued]
My wife plays Angry Birds on iPad, I read/type on the Kindle…and we wait.
I’m not ready to call this a death watch but…
Major minor stroke…all the extremities are working but…
She’ll answer questions about pain, will move fingers/toes/arms/legs, and open eyes on command but…
She seems to be in her own world.
Her hands and feet move around even though she seems to be snoring in her sleep.
A pained look appears on her face. She scratches behind her ear, rubs her eyelid, and searches for her left hand under the covers with her free right hand.
My wife holds her mother’s hand for a few minutes.
Three or four drops of saline drip every fifteen seconds. 80 mL/hr…
We wait…
Comfort care…
What is she thinking? Does she feel like there’s anyone to look at when she opens her eyes for a second or two? Are memories her comfort food now? Does she know where she is? Is she waiting? Is she bored?
She returns to a deep sleep. She dreams, perhaps, of her successful adjustment to a second half game plan.
Pre-hospice care…
Only the mind’s I knows for sure.
In case you’re interested (and even if you’re not), here’s the detailed info about the stroke. The doctors said that my mother in-law has atrial fibrillation (had it for a long time), which is a type of irregular heartbeat. In this case, when the heart does not beat or pump properly, blood can pool within the heart resulting in the formation of blood clots, which can travel to the brain causing a stroke. The doctors believe the clot formed in the right medial cerebral artery (click here for more details about the artery):
Now for detailed report of MRI (without contrast):
Stroke indication: Fall. Altered mental state. The patient was in atrial fibrillation. Confusion and memory loss.
Technique: Multispin and multiplanar MR images of the brain.
Findings: Abnormal diffusion weighted signal is seen within the right basal ganglia and right MCA distribution extending to the temporal lobe concerning for right MCA infarct.
Prominence of the lateral ventricles, sulci, and basal cisterns is consistent with age related atrophy. Increased signal within the periventricular white matter is consistent with small vessel gliosis of a chronic nature.
No mass, mass effect, nor extraaxial fluid collections are seen. The basal cisterns remain intact and uneffaced. The paranasal sinuses and orbits appear normal.
CONCLUSION: Acute right MCA infarct. Age related atrophy. Chronic small vessel periventricular gliosis is noted as well.
= = =
Now the harder decisions.
Do we pursue any sort of physical therapy for her, knowing that her chance for another stroke, the “big one,” increases by the day?
Do we simply provide her comfort care for the rest of her life, going down the path of hospice-based assistance, assuming she might not live another six months, giving her whatever she wants even if it increases her chance of dying any moment (e.g., letting her drink as much water and eat as much food as she wants although she might choke on the intake)?
As usual, we’ll keep feeding her quiet, gentle sense of humour, which she has nurtured on even the most trying days of her life.
Can you remember life before the widespread use of the automobile, walking or riding horse-and-buggy to school/church?
Can you then imagine your life depends on telephone, text, mobile phone and other technology to deliver to your hospital room a person to evaluate your ability to swallow and, thus, your access to oral medication/food?
Would the lack of food /meds inhibit your future growth while rehabbing after a potential neurological stroke?
In other words, how much should any one stranger have an influence on your life?
Every person is important. Titles are irrelevant. I/we depend on you/us, all the time.
In moments like these…
Why is it in moments like these?
Stretcher/gurney, powder-free nitrile exam gloves, vitals monitoring equipment, feeding Coke/water via cotton swab a few drops at a time – you know, moments like these, 94 year-young mother in-law in the hospital after another fall.
Trains honking horns while passing through downtown intersections.
Gangs joining former military (veterans) in formalising government/business protests.
Almost as if Lawnmower Man: Cyberspace is actually prophetic.
As if…
When family is involved, I’m emotional, less logical, less willing to write the storyline that details Committee meetings, supercomputer output or books that foretell their plots.
The tale of the nature of water and air will wait.
It began innocently enough.
Years ago, while our local government experimented by inoculating innocent people with viral material, the forerunner to BONS devised a plan to deliver an unknown substance into the not-yet-fully-grown members of a species.
But how…?
Then, during an emergency message session with early members of MORTIE, it hit us.
Halloween candy! Of course…
But when…?
Now.
The microorganisms and nanobots have been tested until our test subjects got blue in the face and could no longer breathe…but that’s not important right now.
This year, people across the world will stuff their faces with [non]sugar[free] substances that have been molded and coloured with Halloween themes.
Forthwith, this great nation shall finalise the species interconnection dream of a scientist some claim came from another world.
But as you know, what’s the difference between celestial bodies among friends?
No more relying on our main five senses.
Straight-to-nanobot communication will greatly increase our propaganda productivity.
The illusion of freedom of the individual will be complete.
All the old arguments about racial/genetic inequality won’t matter because we’ll all be equally connected.
What’s the point of mind reading if every one of your thoughts has been written by NBN, this new nanobotnetwork?
Those who’ve argued about the detrimental effects of the MSM (mainstream media) will happily embrace the NBN unknowingly.
In fact, most of you already use cars, mass transit, computers, and mobile phones without blinking an eye in revolt.
So eat your Halloween candy, breathe in the clouds of smoke machines, drink bottled/tap water/soda/beer/wine/liquor, bob for apples, drive/ride to parties, and join your families/friends in the holiday revelry.
In the future, don’t call it the contagion. Call this period in the transition of our species our destiny with technology.
The more candy you, your friends, and family eat, the more the microorganisms and nanobots become part of you, exhaled when you breathe out, passing into the atmosphere and speeding toward full saturation of Earth.
We need this global expansion of the laboratory experiment in order to start the next phase, seeing if atomic level transformation will allow us to modify our species for space travel.
With seven billion specimens as test subjects, we can pick and choose which genetic mutations ensure our highest survival rate while in-transit between celestial bodies.
Besides, the law of unintended consequences will surely create a few new industries we haven’t thought of yet.
Speaking of which, time to get out the Book of the Future and see which industries it tells us will make the out-of-work, frustrated street protestors happy again.
That’s the one thing we haven’t figured out how to solve with the microorganisms and nanobots we’re integrating into the worldwide populace – emotion control.
We can tell you what makes you happy. We can create enticements that make you want to seek happiness. You get to the point where you seek happiness without our prodding.
But we haven’t found a 100% unhappiness cure/antidote.
Our soothsayer on staff keeps trying to tell us that unhappiness is an important part of what makes us alive.
Who’m I to disagree with the soothsayer?
Thanks to John at Pizza Hut; Cheryl at Gibson’s BBQ; Shalyn, Connie, Sam, Darrel and others at Publix; Rave Motion Pictures; Brittany at Target; the staff at Brookdale Place.
Happy Halloween – the gobbling will get you if you don’t watch out! Oh, ho ho, ha ha, he he…
Stain with a stitched-up nose after volunteering to carry a dresser, smiling at Beauregard’s – happy early 21st!
A young woman attempting to test students and categorise them into standards without administering a standardised test.
Stephanie from Brookdale Place Dining Services delivering sandwiches while we finished moving in.
Morgan with blue eyes at the PetSmart checkout counter.
Tommy’s Pizza.
Saying goodbye to Leonard, Brenda, Rob, Kerri, Daryl and the rest of the HarborChase staff.
Kelly the herbalist, Jenn the rocket propulsion specialist, April the doctor of chiropractic.
Was that Todd Lumpkin visiting a relative at HarborChase?
Thanks to Robert, Matt and Kennedy at Two Men and a Truck; Tonya H at the Gondolier in Athens, TN.
Getting your husband a one-day pass on the local military base so he can drop you off and take your car for its scheduled maintenance.
Thanks to Mike at Bill Penney Toyota service dept. for taking care of our 2002 Camry with 190k+ miles.
To Mrs. Rozier, happy early 85th!
In one week, it’s possible to find out your company lost a government contract, you get hired by the winning company, move your mother from one assisted living community to another (arranging a lot of background logistics), attend dance class for two hours, take your mother to visit friends at her hometown, stroll through a street festival, attend a college football game, see friends at a ’70s sock hop for high school classes 1970-1980, eat lunch with in-laws and…what else? Wash clothes, buy cat food, prepare to teach a scrapbooking class…oh yeah, and think you lost an important refund check that causes you to say out loud in a carpark, “I can’t take it anymore…I’m going crazy!”
Frustrated, you return home, rummage through some old bills and find an envelope full of dividend checks and the all-important refund check.
All is good.
You can jump on facebook and read happy messages from your friends.
And then put clothes in the dryer / clothes in the washer, fold clothes, pet/feed the cats, and finally, after washing your face and brushing your teeth, crawl into bed with your husband in a safe and secure middle-class home.
Life is grand.
And then you get to do it all over again!
treetrunkdings 