Bad News
Mee Maw has been doing wonderfully. She had someone sitting with her all of the time until she recovered from her last fall. That ended last Tuesday, and she has not been very happy. She got used to having someone there all of the time to talk to, we suppose.
She has been walking well and her mind has been sharp. She continued to complain about some of the pain from the fall in the bathroom, but those complaints have been diminishing.
Until now.
I just got a call from Lori, who got a call from my mother, saying that Mee Maw fell again this morning and was taken to the emergency room. Preliminary indications are that her hip is cracked. The doctors are admitting her to the hospital at Decatur General, but as of this moment we do not know the room number.
The doctors are already telling the family that she should not return to the assisted living place. That supposedly mean a nursing home of some type. I guess we will see about it after a few days in the hospital.
Please pray for Mee Maw and the family right now. This is not going to be easy for anyone.
UPDATE Saturday PM:
Mee Maw is in Room 351 at Decatur General Hospital. She is heavily medicated, including morphine. She is not in much pain, but she is quite confused. X-rays clearly show a crack in her pelvis. There was also a large gash in her right leg that took several staples to close properly.
For some reason she was in the emergency room from about 7:00 in the morning until after 2:00 in the afternoon. No one could say why it took so long to get her a room.
We also do not know exactly what happened to cause the fall. All that anyone can get from Mee Maw is that she was bending over to get her pillow and that there was a chair involved. There is nothing around her regular chair that could cause such a gash. It could be that she was leaning out of the wheelchair and fell out. Or she could have reached for the wheelchair to catch her balance and the chair rolled away from her. My mother thinks that the walker was involved somehow. Whatever it was, we may never know. We aren't even sure how long she was there before she was discovered, or whether she had the presence of mind to press her emergency call button that she was supposed to be wearing at all times.
Lori, Allison, and I just returned from visiting her. Allison wanted to say goodbye, since she is moving to Aurora, Illnois, on Monday to take a position in a day care ministry up there. When I walked in Mee Maw's room and spoke to her, she immediately recognized me and "scowled" in that typical Mee Maw way, pointing and asking, "Who's 'dat'?" During our visit she would have moments of lucidity, but most of the time she was complaining about not knowing what to do. She just "knew" it was time to get up, and she kept pulling the sheet off so that she could swing herself out of bed. We kept pulling the sheet back up to keep everyone in the room from being embarrassed and telling her that she had to stay in bed.
The charge nurse came in to check on her and asked her if she knew what day of the week it was. She replied, "I have no idea." Then he pointed to me and asked her if she knew who I was. "I never saw him before!" she said with a slight smile and a faint twinkle in her eye. The nurse laughed and looked at me. "Was that her wit showing through?" he asked. I could only smile and nod.
Mee Maw knows there is something wrong in her head. She is most frustrated because she cannot think or express herself clearly. That must weigh on her more than anything. She has been so independent and clear-headed for so long that this bothers her more than the physical discomfort. Most, and probably all, of the confusion is medically-induced. Dad says it most likely will be even worse tomorrow when the medicine fully kicks in.
Given her physical weakness, her current medicines, and other conditions, there were certain forms to sign. Probably the hardest form that her son James (who has power of attorney) had to sign was the "living will" or "do not resuscitate" orders. If something were to suddenly happen, the staff would not take heroic measures to try to save her. The good news is that the emergency room doctors said that her heart is unusually strong for a 98-year-old woman. The bad news is that she is a 98-year-old woman with a cracked hip and narcotically-fogged brain.
There is a possibility that she can be moved out of the hospital on Monday. But there is no way that she can return to the assisted-living facility. So the family is already scoping out nursing homes. Monday will bring the need for many decisions. Please pray as you go to church tomorrow that God's will will be done and that Mee Maw will be able to be comfortable and well again somewhere very soon.
She has been walking well and her mind has been sharp. She continued to complain about some of the pain from the fall in the bathroom, but those complaints have been diminishing.
Until now.
I just got a call from Lori, who got a call from my mother, saying that Mee Maw fell again this morning and was taken to the emergency room. Preliminary indications are that her hip is cracked. The doctors are admitting her to the hospital at Decatur General, but as of this moment we do not know the room number.
The doctors are already telling the family that she should not return to the assisted living place. That supposedly mean a nursing home of some type. I guess we will see about it after a few days in the hospital.
Please pray for Mee Maw and the family right now. This is not going to be easy for anyone.
UPDATE Saturday PM:
Mee Maw is in Room 351 at Decatur General Hospital. She is heavily medicated, including morphine. She is not in much pain, but she is quite confused. X-rays clearly show a crack in her pelvis. There was also a large gash in her right leg that took several staples to close properly.
For some reason she was in the emergency room from about 7:00 in the morning until after 2:00 in the afternoon. No one could say why it took so long to get her a room.
We also do not know exactly what happened to cause the fall. All that anyone can get from Mee Maw is that she was bending over to get her pillow and that there was a chair involved. There is nothing around her regular chair that could cause such a gash. It could be that she was leaning out of the wheelchair and fell out. Or she could have reached for the wheelchair to catch her balance and the chair rolled away from her. My mother thinks that the walker was involved somehow. Whatever it was, we may never know. We aren't even sure how long she was there before she was discovered, or whether she had the presence of mind to press her emergency call button that she was supposed to be wearing at all times.
Lori, Allison, and I just returned from visiting her. Allison wanted to say goodbye, since she is moving to Aurora, Illnois, on Monday to take a position in a day care ministry up there. When I walked in Mee Maw's room and spoke to her, she immediately recognized me and "scowled" in that typical Mee Maw way, pointing and asking, "Who's 'dat'?" During our visit she would have moments of lucidity, but most of the time she was complaining about not knowing what to do. She just "knew" it was time to get up, and she kept pulling the sheet off so that she could swing herself out of bed. We kept pulling the sheet back up to keep everyone in the room from being embarrassed and telling her that she had to stay in bed.
The charge nurse came in to check on her and asked her if she knew what day of the week it was. She replied, "I have no idea." Then he pointed to me and asked her if she knew who I was. "I never saw him before!" she said with a slight smile and a faint twinkle in her eye. The nurse laughed and looked at me. "Was that her wit showing through?" he asked. I could only smile and nod.
Mee Maw knows there is something wrong in her head. She is most frustrated because she cannot think or express herself clearly. That must weigh on her more than anything. She has been so independent and clear-headed for so long that this bothers her more than the physical discomfort. Most, and probably all, of the confusion is medically-induced. Dad says it most likely will be even worse tomorrow when the medicine fully kicks in.
Given her physical weakness, her current medicines, and other conditions, there were certain forms to sign. Probably the hardest form that her son James (who has power of attorney) had to sign was the "living will" or "do not resuscitate" orders. If something were to suddenly happen, the staff would not take heroic measures to try to save her. The good news is that the emergency room doctors said that her heart is unusually strong for a 98-year-old woman. The bad news is that she is a 98-year-old woman with a cracked hip and narcotically-fogged brain.
There is a possibility that she can be moved out of the hospital on Monday. But there is no way that she can return to the assisted-living facility. So the family is already scoping out nursing homes. Monday will bring the need for many decisions. Please pray as you go to church tomorrow that God's will will be done and that Mee Maw will be able to be comfortable and well again somewhere very soon.
posted by Richard | 11:47 AM
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