chest rads, CT, oxygen, bloodwork, ECG. tachycardic, a run of A-Fib, neg. bloodwork, non-remarkable rads and bloodwork. she was admitted. we had gotten there at around 10:30am, i stayed until they kicked visitors out at 9pm. updated all bro and sis that were on my cellphone.
next day, same routine of tests. this time, they found pleural effusion. must have been acute. what i don't get is if she was having such difficulty breathing, why it didn't show up on rads when she first got to the hospital....
got there early but not early enough to catch the docs or ask questions.
later on in the day, one of the docs came in and stated that they would try medical treatment first (lasix) and if it didn't work, they'd have to tap her.
Tap = chest tap: physically removing the fluid using a needle and syringe.
in cats usually suffering from CHF, they tap the chest by shaving the hair on one or both sides by the elbow, surgically scrubbing the area, and poking a butterfly catheter (has needle and tubing) with a syringe attached to the end of it. in larger animals, they usually use a long needle attached to an extension set with a syringe attached at the end. in humans, i'm not quite sure but it has to be similar. i think they pulled over 100 mls of orangy fluid. sent it out for fluid analysis...
results were neg for cancer etc.
she stayed in the hospital for a week. tests, tests, tests. i felt bad at how many times she was poked. especially to check her blood sugar. it didn't make sense to me that they gave insulin when her bg was high...they had her on a freakin' dextrose drip even though she was eating well. at one point the nurse assistant got a very high bg and i pointed out that she WAS ON A DEXTROSE drip!
the next day, i believe, she was on regular iv fluids with additives (diltiazem) and no more BG checks or insulin.
all in all, she got out of the hospital a few days before her 83rd birthday.
now the issue is: the house has a steep staircase. she is alone in the house during the day for the week, even though my bro and his wife live next door.
we signed her up for nurse visits and PT visits. the last visits for both were this past week.
for the past month, i've been getting up early weds mornings, drive to her house up north and stay until friday afternoon. i leave at 1pm to hopefully get home by 3pm, get some chores etc. done so that i'll be ready for my work week which begins saturday night and ends tuesday morning. i have to say, it hasn't been easy. i also have to say, some of my bros and sis are complete assholes.
there is NO reason a mother of eight should be placed in a nursing home because noone can care for her. no fucken reason. some of my siblings are lazy self absorbed a-holes. they surely don't remember Mom taken care of their babies while they had to go to work etc. they don't remember Mom and Dad taking in and giving shelter to their friends from out of state until they got on their feet again. they don't remember all that Mom and Dad did for them when they needed it and now, when Mom needs them, it's a no-can-do- i've got to work etc. etc. blah, blah, blah.
Mom has a monitor. she presses the button when she's in distress and the dispatcher alerts the EMS and/or police. a key to get into the house is in a lock box on the doorknob of the front door to the house.
at this point in time, Mom says she's never felt better. she's eating well. she's doing the exercises the PT gave her to do. and when i'm there, we go for a walk around the pond at a small park near her house. we go early morning and catch the geese, ducks, swans, and seagulls. we talk. it's really nice.
~~~
work this past weekend was so crazy, my knees, hurt. i ran my ass off. it is the season for HBCs (hit by car), toxicity ingestion (dogs like to eat bad things while out for walks etc), hi-rise (cats who fall from windows, terraces, etc.)
i didn't go to Mom's today. my legs hurt, my back hurts, my spirit hurts.
~~~
i am fed up with young, arrogant, lazy people. i don't want to work with anyone under 30. they close fluid lines in the cage...i correct this. they close cat tails in cage doors, i correct this and show anger. they shrug their shoulders and mutter a feeble, fake "i'm sorry". they place patients in dirty cages and rationalize this by stating that "she's not staying in the hospital anyway"... i correct this by stating, cleaning is part of the job and that no animal (outpatient or otherwise) is to be placed in a dirty cage for ANY reason. clean the fucken cage. end of story. i don't care that the shift before you left work undone. you spent the first five hours eating, chatting with said co-workers who ended up leaving you a mess, and changing the radio station.
when did the workplace became a place to feel like you're at home?
GOD fucken damn. go to work, do your fucken job and shut your fucken ignorant trap.
~~~
the assitants on the weekend are completely useless.
i can add to my job description: glorified babysitter.
~~~
franny hobbles away, wondering what the future has in store...