A good day!!

Yesterday we found out that there was a misunderstanding (nice way to put it) in the dosage of one of Mom's medications - xanax. Meant just to help her through times of anxiety the instructions were to give it to her every 6 hours. While following those directions it turned out that Mom was being over medicated. She stopped getting it as soon as we found out and today she "woke up". She talked, ate and drank. She did wonder what had happened to her and how she missed a few days. Try explaining that to a loved one. So the grim email of yesterday is followed by the comments today that the difference in Mom is like "Night and Day".

Just a thought . . .

I know that Mom/Grandma/Norma enjoys it when Dad reads email meant for her to her. If you have anything you want to say to her you can email me at mary126@optonline.com and I will pass it onto Dad/Mike (or if you have his address you can send him one) Since I didn't ask him before posting this, I won't assume that publically posting his email address is ok with him - I am still the child you know ;-) Put Norma in the subject line so Dad doesn't forward it to everyone!

Mom is still very weak . . . worse then when she came home. She is only eating a few bites of each meal but is trying to get her fluids in. She became dehydrated over the weekend and Beth spooned in enough herbal tea to pick her back up. She sleeps (or rests with her eyes closed) more then she is awake (or alert).

Dad/Mike is doing a great job taking care of her. Visits from Dan, Lori & Rick have been very helpful. I can't wait to get back down there but it will be another couple of weeks before it happens.

Saturday, November 7th

So Mom is home and things are settling in a bit. It is going to be a while before they totally adjust to the new room arrangements (the hospital bed), the people coming in (the nurse and physical therapist) and the new medication schedule.

The night before last, Mom got frantic in the middle of the night. Dad came out to find her oxygen line all knotted up on the floor. It is a mystery as to how that happened and nobody knows how long she was without oxygen.

In the end it might not have been pneumonia that got Mom in such bad shape. Turns out she has congestive heart failure. She is doing better quit a bit better then she when she went into the hospital, however mornings seem to be hard for her. She is very drowsy and her speech isn't that clear.

From here on out, I will only post if something significant happens.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. We all appreciate it so very much!

Quicky Post

Just to let you all know that Mom/Grandma/Norma is home!!!

Wednesday, November 4th

Mom and Dad have run into the situation where there is no cooperation between the medical staff and themselves. There needs to be coordination with Mom's discharge equipment and medications. The doctor will only write the scripts at discharge time. Ah bureaucracy. Always there when you don't need any more stressors.

Mom did ok today with Dad around to stop the nurses from tripping over each other to get to Mom. One wanted to do one thing and another something else at the same time. It got to be frustrating for both of them.

I spoke with the nurse. The doctor expects to discharge her tomorrow!! I'm sure she will be happier at home and Dad won't be running back and forth between the hospital and home. He has had his plate full this week so I'm sure he will be able to breath easier when things go back to semi-normal.

Tuesday, November 3rd

It was a very eventful day for Mom. They took her off her IV fluids and antibiotics. She stayed awake most of the day leaving her nap for the afternoon. She is speaking more and sitting up in bed instead of laying down.

Rick says she is feisty and Beth says she is stronger. Dad got her out of bed and put her in the chair for dinner. She pushed the nurses button and the nurse asked if she could help her. Mom said that she wanted her to come see her sitting in the chair :-) She started eating dinner and something got stuck in her throat. That didn't help her breathing any so she didn't eat anymore.

The biggest news of the day . . . wait for it . . . .

I called and spoke to Mom. She spoke on the phone!! Something that she wouldn't have contemplated a few days ago. She said things are looking up and she was going home!!! It won't be tomorrow but soon.

Mom will have a daily home health care nurse and they are getting a hospital bed in. That will be a big help for Dad.

I called and spoke to her nurse just to see what they thought. She said that there is a huge difference between a week ago and now.

So all your prayers have definitely helped. I believed it would be a miracle if she ever went home again. Well, we are witnessing a miracle. She still has a ways to go but for her to go home is miraculous! Thank you all for your prayers and support. We appreciate it very much.

Monday, November 2nd

Today started off pretty much the same as yesterday. Mom did say she ate a pretty good breakfast but she still dozed most of the time. Then around noon the covering doctor came in. He mentioned a nursing home and Mom got all upset. She said that Dad is retired and takes good care of her and she wants to go home. He wanted to know what Dad wanted to do and Beth said that he needed to talk to Dad about that. Dad had gone home for lunch . . . so the Dr. gave him until 1:30 to get back because he had to leave at 2:00. (It's about a half hour drive from home tothe hospital.)

Dad made it back and they talked. Nothing concrete has been decided yet . Dad wants to wait to hear what Mom's doctor has to say but they don't know when he will be back. Her doctor's mother is in bad shape and he had to go to India to see her. He was expected to be back yesterday but when he got there his trip became open ended. So decisions will probably have to be made without him.

Mom's upset made her even more determined. She talked more and clearer this afternoon than she has since she first went in. They finally got a chair in her room and she sat in it for 1 hour and 15 minutes . . . then she lost her dinner. She is trying and we all know what a strong women she is.

Please continue to keep her in your prayers. Pray that she is as comfortable and as peaceful as she possibly can be.

Sunday, November 1

Mom didn't really change much. She seemed weaker today. She did wake up to eat a little bit. The Doctor came in this morning and suggested she try to get up into a chair today. They think that getting up will help make her stronger. He said he would order the chair to be brought in but it didn't make it into the room the last I heard.

Rachel and I left at 2:00 to fly home and Mom sent everyone packing at 4:30. She has said she doesn't need anyone to watch her sleep. I guess she wanted a quiet nap but I'm not sure she got it. When we leave they clean her up and change the bed so it was probably busy time for her.

So, I don't have much more for today. Keep her in your prayers!

Halloween Day!

This will be a short update as nothing much happened today. Mom spent most of the day half dozing. She woke up enough at meal times and ate a bit but would drift off. It was a down day and quiet was the goal.

The cover Dr. for the covering Dr. for her Doctor came in while we were there. I asked what the prognosis was and he said it was rough. He said that she has stabilized but she isn't really getting any better and that she is too weak. He also said that they would do everything they can for her.

Tomorrow Rachel and I leave. It's going to be hard to leave since I want to spend more time with her. There probably won't be an update tomorrow night since I'll be getting home late and have to get up early for work on monday. I will continue the blog though. Everyone here (Beth, Dan, Rick and Dad) has instructions to give me the updates for it. I'll compare notes and let everyone know how things are going.

TGIF

Beth got up real early today to try to catch the doctor. Mom's doctor left on vacation and there is a new one covering but we had never talked to him. She succeeded and he said that all he was doing was keeping things the same until Mom's doctor got back. He said he would come back at noon and talk to Dad.

The rest of us got there around 9 and Mom was awake. She said they had turned off all the lights and it was a black, dark night. She didn't sleep to much. She started dozing off and would wake up. She told us us to "turn her off" a few times. She did that yesterday to. It felt like she was losing ground and we were all pretty quiet so she could sleep.

Again we went to lunch at Ricks - thanks again!! When we got back, Mom was having lunch and she did a good job of eating it. The best meal yet. She seemed stronger after eating and talked a bit clearer even if it wasn't more. She did real good again at dinner and it had the same result. She seemed a bit stronger.

She stayed awake longer after dinner and kept asking who was going and when. Finally it was time for Beth to take Mike and Christina to the airport and pick up Rachel. When she said good bye to Mike and then Christina she told them that she would still be here if they needed anything! How quickly it goes from "turn me off" to "I'll be here"?

Thursday evening

Sorry these are so late but I'm not getting back to the house until late. We went to see her this morning and there was no change. She was as drowsy and weak as she had been yesterday. We left and went to Rick's for lunch - thanks Rick for feeding us it was good eating even if the burgers were crunchy. After lunch we went back and she was the same. I kept hoping for a glimpse of Mom and I finally got it. Those who know her will appreciate this and get the same chuckle we all did. . . She was trying to tell us that something unintelligable was in the wrong place. We told her that we didn't understand and she tried again. Once again I told her we didn't understand what she was saying. She stopped a minute and tried again and she said the story, someone asked what story and she said the Childrens Story. We asked if the Children's story was in the wrong place? Her frustrated reply . . . . here it comes . . . "You guys don't know nothing, your all a bunch of dummys!" She said it so clear!

It was getting late so Dad and I were going to leave to fix dinner. She said "everyone is leaving". . . it sounded like a question. Someone said that no, they were going to stay for a little longer. . . she said, "No, I don't want anyone to stay!" It was an instruction :)

When we got back after dinner she told us that while we were gone she had her bath and they sat her in a chair for an hour for dinner. She didn't get a chance to rest. It seemed that the activity woke her up as she was more awake tonight. There were 8 of us there in that tiny room and it did get a bit noisy. The nurse came in and I said that she was bubbly after she left. Mom said "Yes, but she won't let me have a cigarette." That was the first time she mentioned it since she got there. She asked how long she had been in the hospital and realized that she had managed to go 3 days without a smoke. A record she was feeling good about :)

Beth went and talked to the nurse for a bit. She said that they were trying to get her lungs clear and less swollen. She also said that if we wanted one of us could spend the night, they would put a cot in the room. It was after 9 before we knew it. Way late for Mom and you could tell we were wearing her out so we said our goodnights. Beth told her that Christina could do a sleepover with her and Mom said she wanted everyone to leave, she didn't want a sleepover! So we honored her wishes. It was all good.

Wednesday evening in Georgia

Beth, Mike, Christina and I met at the airport in Atlanta and went straight to the hospital. We headed down the hall to ICU and passed a door that said "Schmucker". To our delight and surprise Mom had been moved out of ICU this morning. Her oxygen is a little bit low but her cough has eased up quite a bit. She is very weak though and her words are labored and quietly spoken. She was scheduled for a transfusion this morning but in the end she didn't need it! Her blood counts have stabilized.

We didn't stay long so she could rest and went to the house for dinner that was provided by the ward members. We were presently surprised by our reto Dad. His hair has grown long and he looks a bit like he got stuck in the '70s. After dinner Dad and Mike went back to visit. The rest of us went to pick up Dan and then we visited again.

I kept asking her if she needed anything and if she was comfortable. She said she is comfortable. I asked her how the nurses were at that hospital and she said that medically they were very good, personally they weren't so good. They moved things and she can't find them. It takes them a long time to come in when she needed something. We will have to see if we can rectify that tomorrow.

I asked her if she wanted to say something for the blog and she said to tell everyone to "hang in there".

Tuesday morning

I spoke with the nurse and she said that Mom is doing better today then yesterday. Dad concurred. Mom isn't coughing up as much as yesterday. The main issues are pneumonia and her heart. She is on two antibiotics, had flu and pneumonia shots and is getting IV fluids. The nurse was concerned that she isn't eating so I told her that the food had to be very inviting or Mom won't consider that it is worth the energy to eat it. Hopefully they can remedy that. She is drinking though so that's good. They have given her something to help her relax and she is resting now.

Beth, Mike and I are heading to Georgia in the morning. I will only post again tonight if there is something to tell, otherwise the next blog will be tomorrow evening sometime.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and support. They are all very much appreciated!

Monday, October 26th

Mom, Grandma, Norma Schmucker. From now on I'll use Mom since that is what I call her.

She has a bad week this week. Breathing has been very difficult and she didn't get up much. Last monday her doctor called and said that she was anemic. He wanted her to go into the office on tuesday so he could make arrangements for her to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion. She gets very worn out when she has to travel anywhere so she didn't go. She did get a blessing on monday and Dad said it helped her relax.

Last night she was physically no better. She has been sleeping more then she has been awake. Everything she does has been labored. Dad said that they were trying to decide where she would be sleeping . . . home or the hospital. She slept home last night but this morning they got transport for her. She started in emergency then was moved into a room. They did some tests and then she was moved into ICU. Dad has said she had a heart attack . . . I spoke with the nurse and she didn't know anything about that. It turns out that her heart is racing. They got it to slow down a bit. The problem is when they give her breathing treatments, it speeds up again. She has been caughing up a lot of junk. For those that do not know, mom has had emphesemia since she was 63 . . . for 17 years.

They nurse said that she is trying to drink a bit of juice. She is on a liquid diet at the moment. She is more relaxed. Her blood counts are low (since she wasn't treated for anemia as of yet.) The Dr. should be there in an hour or so and I'll call him tomorrow to see what he can tell me.

I explained to the nurse that Mom has a big family and we are spread out across the country. I requested that if the time came that we needed to go that she call me. . . she said she would.

In the meantime, I called Rick. He is on his way to visit. Visiting is bad where she is. Dad said they can visit 6 times a day for 15 minutes only. Hopefully, Rick will be able to. He said he would call me afterwards. . . I'll post again if he has anything different to say.

Prayers are good!