A tough day for Mom...

Poor Mom, not that she doesn't have enough to deal with, but this morning brought her so many frustrating little inconveniences, it put ME in tears.

First of all, her PICC line got blocked somehow, so they were unable to give her the IV pain medication, and then, instead of doing her chest x-ray from the room, they wanted another view so she went down to x-ray for it. And the poor x-ray tech tried to pull her up and accidentally pulled out her catheter...Um yah...That had to hurt...Real bad. When they got her back up to the room, they put in a peripheral IV line until they could get the PICC unclogged, which took 3 tries...Poor thing was just getting beat left and right. It was so hard to see this...It makes me feel so helpless.

She still is not eating enough. The doctor who was originally treating her in the ICU came back today, and he did not seem to be as concerned with putting the feeding tube back in. He said that he would rather try and stimulate her appetite and try to get her eating more. It is tough though, it is a vicious circle...The simple act of chewing and drinking makes her tired, so she doesn't really eat much, which makes her body weak, which makes chewing and drinking make her tired. And she is not only not getting enough nutrition to help her to get strong, she is also having problems with her electrolytes, and they are having to give her potassium and magnesium supplements to keep her in balance.

She does seem to be sleeping better and seems more, I don't know, calm...Or present...Which is good. She was really cute tonight. She was asking who all I had spoken to, and if I hadn't spoken to someone she thought I should have, she chastised me a bit. She asked how my dog Newman was, and then a few minutes later, asked me how "Tiffy" was. Now, Tiffy was my dog growing up, who has been gone about 16 years. So, I told her that we didn't have Tiffy anymore and she said "well then, who do I have?" So, I told her that she didn't have a dog, but she enjoyed when Newman came over for visits. She said, "oh yah."

I stayed a little later than normal, so I didn't make it down to see Dad today. I hate missing a day, but I know that the CNAs take good care of him, and he most likely will have slept the evening away anyhow. I will go tomorrow for sure.

As I was telling Mom goodnight, I told her to have sweet dreams...And she said "yah, me and my imaginary Tiffy." Then she sort of cocked her head to the side and said "do you think it is because of the stoke?" So, I told her that her brain is trying to make some of those connections that were lost, and that some of that may happen in the process. She is actually pretty with it for all that has happened.

Just got to get her strong and healthy...Got to try each and every day!

Much love.