Wednesday February 1 2023

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Feb 1, 2023

Joe, I have the feeling that the coworker who was overwhelmed thinks you absolutely did help someone yesterday ? by taking her new case.

Hubs is at least speaking to me. And told me I need to take some time off. But I'm planning a long weekend in San Antonio at the end of the month to visit my sister, and in March the risk management group will be back in Phoenix. Hubs was sooo jealous of my trip to Arizona last year that he's planning to drive the convertible out there while I'm in meetings and we'll drive back together. So I'll have to use a little vacation time then. It's not as if I can just take off all the time. I think we are both suffering some mid-Winter depression.

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 1, 2023

No email from the rehab place re: 02 concentrator. ?

Last night was awful. Hubby called doc's office to talk to nurse about the fact that Nannie has been sleeping like a zombie; was supposed to get a call back, but HE said she never called back.....but he'd had 2-3 calls from a number he didn't recognize and I will bet $10 that was the nurse calling back.

Then he called the ambulance, and when they got here, guess who woke up and was perky as all get out with the first responders. They explained to us that the ER was crammed full of very sick folks, and people were waiting a LONG time for labs, and then for any treatment. Hubby still wanted her to go and to be admitted to be seen by the doc she saw previously, who'd changed her meds. He was hoping they could admit her and see that Doc in the AM. They said they would take her, but she had perfect 02 sat and v/s, no s/s of any distress....so they probably wouldn't admit her. I told hubby that we'd just as soon keep her at home last night because if they didn't admit her, we'd have to go pick her up in the wee AM hours. I gave her some more yogurt because she had said no, she wasn't at all hungry, and by 8 PM it was time for her meds. By 8:30 PM she was sleeping again, so I got her up to the bathroom and got her to bed.

Hubby and I were both bummed out about the 02 question, and he was very bummed out that he couldn't get Nannie taken away for the night and/or a couple of days. I said we would have to go talk to the guy who takes care of her investments and if he couldn't help us wring some $$$ out of her account, maybe he could recommend a financial advisor who could see if we can place her without all of us going broke. Plus we still don't know about costs and fees for rehab.

I came >[-]< this close to crying last night. It would have relieved some tension if I had been able to, but alas, tears pulled back and wouldn't flow. It just seems we hit the wall every time we take a baby-step toward some kind of forward movement.

I had to help him by hauling the 02 concentrator UPSTAIRS to his bedroom (9 steps from den and then 6 steps.) The small tank he used up there had run out. Then it was 30 minutes before we could get the outlet clear (had to move the bed and a pile of dirty laundry and shoes, etc.) in order to plug it in.

It is grey and close-to-cold and supposed to rain later today and for the next 2-3 days. We won't be driving in the rain because even IF the 02 was acceptable to the rehab place, we would still have to continue gathering 'what to take' if he goes.

BLAH!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Feb 1, 2023

Back to work but I feel on the outside looking in. Everyone is struggling to get onto the electronic record (Epic) with limited success. There is a resource person on site, and very nice OCD nurse has been telling him everything that is wrong with the system, like he can do anything about it. I don't have any access , so it's not like I can go in and look around. I get to make a home visit at the end of the day. The weather has warmed up a bit, and most of the snow is gone.
NoStars, your hubby seems to thing the medical system is like fast food sand you just order what you want. Unfortunately it hasn't been that way for a long time. Good plan to get the financial planner involved.
Annie, I'm glad your hubs is talking. Did you get your heat fixed?

Dianah, thank you for the cartoon. The dinner issue is somewhat better here than it was. Fend for yourself is often the plan, LOL.
Tweety, did you see a movie?

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 2, 2023

At 5:30 PM I went out to get a few things at Food Lion, and picked hubby and Nannie their supper from McD's, added gas to the gas-tank, and came back home. Hubby said he told Nannie that they were waiting for me to bring supper in, and he was going to go outside to smoke a cigt. Then when he came in, her recliner was down, her chair-side light was turned off, and her walker was not in the den. He thought she was in the bathroom, but then when he hadn't heard anything from her, he peeked in her bedroom and she was sitting on the side of her bed. He asked her what she was doing, and she said she was sitting on the side of her bed and taking off her boots. He told her she hadn't had supper yet and that I would be back shortly with the eats. She said she wasn't hungry, and "since this is my bedroom, I am using my bed, because I'm tired." and she got under her covers.

When I came back I went into her room to ask her, was she sure she didn't want to eat? (she said she did not want ANY food) So I covered her up and turned out the light and said I hope she sleeps well.

We decided to leave hubby's 02 condenser upstairs, and put a small tank beside his recliner in the den. Had another tutorial on how to turn on and off the little tank. The info won't stick, but at least I will likely be down here when he wants to turn it off, so I can avoid the tank bleeding off 02 from his attempts to shut it down.

Yesterday, one of the EMT's said it sounded to him like Nannie was in the beginning stages of 'Adult Failure to Thrive.' (Did I write this already?)

To-night neither Hubby nor I could finish our suppers and wrapped 'em and put 'em in the fridge. I said to him that maybe WE were also having Adult Failure to Thrive. (Ha-ha ...... sort of.)

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2023

Good evening.

Work went well. I had 4:1 ratio and didn't get an admission. Tomorrow I'm in charge. It seems my charge schedule is every other Thursday as the only day of that week. Then the next week every other Thursday and Friday and no weekends. Oh well...it's hard with two units but I said I'd do it.

Ado, I got the silent treatment once and it was unacceptable. I finally told my ex that he was to communicate with me and then if he wanted to give the silent treatment after that then fine.

Stars, that is stressful. I think you know that failure to thrive will lead to more total care so again trying to place would be a good idea. Odd that your husband called 911. If I'm in my 90's and I sleep a lot, leave me the f-bomb alone please.

J22, I like Epic. There's always drama and resistance with these changes. Some of our docs had time with it.

We went to see "Women Talking" which is nominated for Best Picture. Great movie.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Feb 2, 2023

If Nannie is indeed entering failure to thrive and starts to deteriorate , then she might qualify for hospice and perhaps you could get more help. Do you think your hubby would consider hospice? Even if only to have an aide come in to help with bathing, and maybe diapering and changing.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2023

Hospice does come with a lot of services, including inpatient, and respite care. But that would involve DNR status and end of treatment, I.e. no calling 911 because she sleeps too much. Something to think about after rehab.

My brother in law went through this, including having a sibling say "you're killing our mother".

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 2, 2023

Following all.

Hello! Dh and I drove to meet friends at their place, then we four ate at a diner-type restaurant. Had a great time chatting and catching up. When time came for the bill, we were told it was paid for by folks at another table. We hadn't interacted with them at all; they were seated across from our table. We remarked we have done the same, in the past -- 'paid it forward,' so to speak. It was humbling and so kind of them to have done it for us! Wish we could have thanked them.

On our way home we stopped at the March Field Air Museum. We have passed it many, many times on our drives to Oceanside, to visit MIL and FIL (before their deaths). Have been in a couple times, when the kids were little, so like 25 years ago! It was so full of information and exhibits, that we agreed we would have to come back. They have two huge hangars full of plane replicas and plane parts and Air Force uniforms and memorabilia. THEN there are many, many aircraft outside, to walk amongst!! We walked outside just for a few minutes, then got cold and went back to the inside exhibits. Apparently some foreign company was shooting a music video outside, by one of the planes. All we saw was lots of ppl gathered around, and staff alerted us that the video shooting was in progress.

The first plane we encountered was the SR-71 Blackbird, used for reconnaissance in the 60's through the late 80's (last flight 1990). Amazing aircraft, flying at speeds up to Mach 3.3, up to 80,000 ft into the atmosphere! Just amazing! Took photos of 100,000miles of territory in one hour. Such an impressive feat of development, implementation, and execution!

So, yeah, we will be going back, before it gets to 110 degrees out!

Tomorrow I renew my driver's license at the DMV. Not going to get a Real ID, as my passport is still in date.

Our friends have tickets to camp at the Grass Valley Father's Day Bluegrass Festival. "Are you guys going???" they asked us. Arrrrrgggggghhhhh! We had decided not to; to stay local! But now that they have tickets, we are waffling... Stay tuned!

Have a good evening!

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 2, 2023

Hello again....

Yes Nannie already has a DNR order and a Comfort-Measures-Only form made out. I don't know what hubby was thinking about calling 911 except getting her out of the house and maybe from there to get her placed into a 'home'. Or put her on more and/or different medicine, maybe. I don't know that they would increase her Seroquel because she already gets a 50 mg tablet in the AM and again in the PM. {The EMT's kept talking to me, but I kept pointing to hubby, saying, "He is her son and POA."}

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2023

The time for CMO might be sooner rather than later. People presume, regardless of who has the POA that elder care is female driven and this is largely true from what I've seen. Plus, they probably knew you were more reasonable.

We discharged a patient that the family insisted on taking home and they brought her back within two hours. She was admitted with some trumped up diagnosis but really was admitted to be placed. That kind of thing smacks of fraudulent. But when a family brings them leaves, and refuses to take them home what can we do? Sometimes they just sit in the ER waiting to be placed. But like everywhere are ERs are full of sick people.

Dianah, how sweet and lucky you to have your meal paid for by obviously good hearted people. There is a movement out there that those in a restaurant or a line for coffee obviously can afford their meal so don't buy their meal. Give your money to the poor or an organization that serves the poor. I can of agree with that.

My sister called me out that I haven't called my parents in a while. She is still staying there with them but probably doesn't know sometimes we go months without talking to each other and that's our normal dynamic "no news is good news". So I called them and dad was more interesting in the UNC basketball game, and mom didn't have much to say. My sister claims I "made their day" but they didn't sound too enthused that I called. But they sounded good. Mom's no longer crazy anxious since she's off the Lopressor and the added lasix is keeping her CHF at bay. We do keep up through our social media so they know I'm up to anyway.

No Stars In My Eyes · Feb 2, 2023

Tweety said:

They probably knew you were more reasonable.

Aaaaahahahahahahaha! I wasn't feeling particularly reasonable that night! And I wasn't the one who called them. But, yes, I suppose they could tell that hubby wanted her taken away to ER/hospital, and that I understood about the long waiting room stay (by herself, and her having dementia!) wouldn't end with an admission to the hospital.