We have finally moved back out of St. Francis and back into the Villages at Southern Hills, which is a skilled nursing facility. They never could figure out what happened that sent us back to the ICU in the first place but have ruled out most things. So we are going to try and hit the ground running to get her back into a good physical therapy routine and get her to a place where she will be strong enough to go back home. We would really like to find someone who specializes in Parkinson's to help with her speech therapy but so far, have not been lucky in that search.
Thank you for all the notes. She definitely loves hearing about all of your lives!
Jennifer & Family
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Monday, September 22nd
No huge news to report at this time, other than Mom has been moved out of ICU and into a regular bed at St. Francis. We are still working with a team of doctors to try and figure out what happened to her a couple of weeks ago but no answers yet. There is a chance they will do anther x-ray swallow test to see if we can get her off the peg tube and eating regular food by mouth but not scheduled yet. There is also talk to move her out of the hospital this week sometime and skip the LTAC and go straight back to a skilled nursing facility. Not sure if we will end up in the same one.
She has her personality back most of the time, mixed with some delusions, but we are hopeful to get her out and home some time soon!
Thank you for all of the kind emails. Will try and keep you updated here as much as possible!
Jennifer & Family
She has her personality back most of the time, mixed with some delusions, but we are hopeful to get her out and home some time soon!
Thank you for all of the kind emails. Will try and keep you updated here as much as possible!
Jennifer & Family
Friday, September 19, 2014
Friday, September 19th
GOOD NEWS!!!
We had the pulmonologist come in today and do a scope of Mom's throat to see if he could figure out why she had swelling. He said aside from a little scar tissue, likely left over from the trach, the throat looked good. So he had her extubated and taken off sedation! She is awake and alert and mad as a hornet, apparently. My dad said he would take mad over sedated any day. So we will start the process again to get her on to the next level so we can move back into a rehab facility of some sort and hopefully get her home soon!!!!
Thank you for all of your concern. We are relieved to have some good news after so many days of no news at all.
Keep you posted of the progress!
Jennifer & Family
We had the pulmonologist come in today and do a scope of Mom's throat to see if he could figure out why she had swelling. He said aside from a little scar tissue, likely left over from the trach, the throat looked good. So he had her extubated and taken off sedation! She is awake and alert and mad as a hornet, apparently. My dad said he would take mad over sedated any day. So we will start the process again to get her on to the next level so we can move back into a rehab facility of some sort and hopefully get her home soon!!!!
Thank you for all of your concern. We are relieved to have some good news after so many days of no news at all.
Keep you posted of the progress!
Jennifer & Family
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday, September 15th
Well, I have to apologize again for not being more diligent on this blog but we have not had great news and I have been waiting and hoping that we might have some answers and I could explain what has happened over the last week, but that has not been the case.
Last Monday, my mother was having trouble breathing, having severe tremors and lost her inability to talk. So the nursing staff at the facility she was staying in decided she needed to go back to the ICU at the hospital. She was admitted and then eventually sedated and reintubated. We are extremely frustrated, disappointed and deflated in this recent development. On top of this, no one at the hospital seems to have any idea what happened or why. So we have no answers. She has had blood drawn, CAT scans, MRI's with no results pointing to anything. They are slowly trying to back her off both the sedation and the ventilation but it, again, is a very slow process.
So all I can tell you for now is, we are back at St. Francis in the regular ICU (there was no room in Neuro ICU) and waiting to hear what the next step is.
I hope to have some better news soon!
Jennifer
Last Monday, my mother was having trouble breathing, having severe tremors and lost her inability to talk. So the nursing staff at the facility she was staying in decided she needed to go back to the ICU at the hospital. She was admitted and then eventually sedated and reintubated. We are extremely frustrated, disappointed and deflated in this recent development. On top of this, no one at the hospital seems to have any idea what happened or why. So we have no answers. She has had blood drawn, CAT scans, MRI's with no results pointing to anything. They are slowly trying to back her off both the sedation and the ventilation but it, again, is a very slow process.
So all I can tell you for now is, we are back at St. Francis in the regular ICU (there was no room in Neuro ICU) and waiting to hear what the next step is.
I hope to have some better news soon!
Jennifer
Friday, September 5, 2014
Friday, September 5th
There are no real updates to be given at this point. My mom is still residing at the Villages at Southern Hills. She is making progress, although slowly. But there has been talk this week about getting her hair done in the salon on the property so that she would be fit to receive guests, so that is a great step in terms of her state of mind. I think she is ready to talk to some people other than her family!
Today marks the first day we are experimenting with having someone from Care.com in to relieve my dad for a few hours. Many people had recommended the site to me and after several phone interviews, I settled on one. She is there now and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it goes ok because I think Dad could really use a little break. If anyone ever needs help, Care.com is a great tool and feels very much like online dating! You get to read through peoples' profiles and look at their pictures and then when you are ready, you can arrange to meet in person, or in my case, over the phone. The prices were much more affordable than a visiting nurses association which ended up being a total bust for us anyway. So I am anxiously waiting for 5pm, Oklahoma time, to call and see how things went.
My mom has really enjoyed the wonderful notes you have been sending (jclapp1@yahoo.com)! She loves feeling like she is "in the know" about everyone and loves seeing pictures of you. Thank you so much for all of your support through what feels like an endless process. We are truly indebted to so many people at this point, its hard to keep track!
More news later,
Jennifer & Family
Today marks the first day we are experimenting with having someone from Care.com in to relieve my dad for a few hours. Many people had recommended the site to me and after several phone interviews, I settled on one. She is there now and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it goes ok because I think Dad could really use a little break. If anyone ever needs help, Care.com is a great tool and feels very much like online dating! You get to read through peoples' profiles and look at their pictures and then when you are ready, you can arrange to meet in person, or in my case, over the phone. The prices were much more affordable than a visiting nurses association which ended up being a total bust for us anyway. So I am anxiously waiting for 5pm, Oklahoma time, to call and see how things went.
My mom has really enjoyed the wonderful notes you have been sending (jclapp1@yahoo.com)! She loves feeling like she is "in the know" about everyone and loves seeing pictures of you. Thank you so much for all of your support through what feels like an endless process. We are truly indebted to so many people at this point, its hard to keep track!
More news later,
Jennifer & Family
Monday, September 1, 2014
Monday, September 1st
We are coming up on a full week at our new facility (The Villages at Southern Hills) and don't want to get too excited but feel like maybe Mom has turned a small but pivotal corner. We have had such problems regulating her sleep patterns and think this contributed greatly to her confusion about reality. She has struggled over the past few weeks with delusion and anxiety. A very stressful and exhausting state to be in constantly, not only for her, but for the people caring for her. Because of her sleeping issues (staying up through the night in an excited state and sleeping during the day) we were having trouble with her success in working with any of the therapists. So Dad and Susie have been trying to employ techniques to keep her awake during the day so she will be tired enough to sleep at night. After a breathing treatment on Saturday to clear up extreme congestion, they had two solid nights of sleep and she seems more like her normal self. I even got to talk with her on the phone this morning! We are hoping this new pattern will help set her on the right path and speed up the recovery process. We are trying to figure out when the neck brace might come off to give her some more freedom and will hopefully have some answers on that front soon.
After posting on my facebook page about looking for some help to relieve my dad, I found that many people are using Care.com as a means to hire private trained professionals to aid in sitting with her when my dad and sister need time off. I know some of you have asked if you could help in this way but we have figured out that this is a much harder job and we don't feel comfortable asking friends to assist in this way, nor is Mom entirely comfortable with it either. I think she would like to be much more put together before she starts receiving any company!
Stay tuned, that could be right around the corner!
Thank you for your continued support!
Jennifer & Family
After posting on my facebook page about looking for some help to relieve my dad, I found that many people are using Care.com as a means to hire private trained professionals to aid in sitting with her when my dad and sister need time off. I know some of you have asked if you could help in this way but we have figured out that this is a much harder job and we don't feel comfortable asking friends to assist in this way, nor is Mom entirely comfortable with it either. I think she would like to be much more put together before she starts receiving any company!
Stay tuned, that could be right around the corner!
Thank you for your continued support!
Jennifer & Family
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