It’s been a while since a Nana News post because
Nana has had several challenging months.
In June, she was doctoring for an increasingly severe case of cellulitis
on her foot and leg. More and more
antibiotics didn’t do the trick.
Finally, I drove up on Sunday July 14th to take her to a doctor’s appointment
to Dr. Wiegand on Monday, July 15. When
I arrived on Sunday, I could tell she was in a lot of pain and walking was very
difficult, but when I suggested going to The Fence for a fish sandwich, she
agreed. She did well with eating her
fish and I helped her walk.
Early Monday morning she woke up crying in
pain. After consulting with Sharon, I
gave her a stronger pain tablet in hopes we could hold out for the doctor
appointment. She slept a little but had
no appetite for breakfast and ate only one small piece of toast. Our appointment was for three o’clock, but I
wanted to leave early to see if I could get her to eat her baked potato,
hamburg and Jr. Frosty at Wendy’s. To
complicate the situation, it was a horribly hot day.
Every step into Wendy’s was excruciating I could
tell, but Nana made it to a table. I got
the food, but she only ate a little of the baked potato. A walk to the bathroom was also a huge
effort. When we headed for the exit
door, I could tell Nana was getting weaker and weaker. From behind us, a kindly lady with gray hair
pulled into a bun offered us help. I was
so grateful! “I take care of my 90 year
old mother so I know what you’re going through” she said. “If you can hold her other side, that would
be so helpful," I replied.
With one of us on each side, Nana could still barely
walk. We reached the curb in front of my
Prius and all of sudden she said, “I can’t do it.” Then she collapsed onto the side walk – just sat
right down! We tried to pull her up and
she tried to hold onto the front of the car but the heat was so intense it was
like touching fire. After a struggle, we
got her up. By then, the kind lady’s
young grandson appeared to help with the door.
We were almost there when she collapsed again. Getting her up this time took even more
effort on our part as Nana was spent and could barely help. Finally she was in the car and I thanked my
helpers profusely. What a blessing to have
the kindness of strangers!
Sweat was pouring off of me and my hands shook on
the steering wheel as we headed for the doctor’s office. I was trying to hold myself together while
keeping her calm. “I’m getting help to
get you from the car to the office.” Ever the trooper, Nana said, “Oh, I can
make it.” I had my doubts.
We toddled slowly into the office and Nana plopped onto
a chair. Cyn the nurse helped me walk
her back the hall. She weighed her and then as I walked her a few steps down
the hall, she again said, “I can’t do it.”
She slumped to the floor at my feet.
Teresa, the Physician’s Assistant and I got her to a chair. Dr. Wiegand picked up the phone and called an
ambulance.
After seven hours in the Emergency Room, Nana was
admitted to the hospital. The next
morning, the hospital doctor didn’t have good news. Nana’s kidney function was so low he felt she
could be close to needing dialysis. Her
lungs had fluid due to one part of her heart not working correctly. This was all in addition to the raging
infection from the cellulitis and the pain that accompanied that
infection. No wonder poor Nana collapsed
three times.
That was Tuesday and it was probably one of the
lowest points of this whole experience.
The high-powered pain killers made Nana nauseous; the cellulitis leg had
a wound that was open and oozing and she was coughing constantly from the fluid in her lungs. The doctor was asking, "Does she have a living will?" I was scared.
On Wednesday, Sharon came home from vacation and
Nana was doing a little better so I left in the afternoon to go home to Virginia to get
ready to close on our recently purchased house. I so wished
I could’ve been both places at the same time.
By the following Tuesday, Nana still needed IV
antibiotics but the hospital sent her to Muncy Valley Skilled Nursing to finish
that and to hopefully rehab. When she
went to Muncy, she was still a very sick Nana.
Her blood work there the first few days showed her kidney function very
low again, she still needed Lasik for the fluid; she was so weak she could
barely sit in the wheelchair and they kept talking about her Parkinson’s. Nana was never diagnosed with Parkinson’s but
now all her extremities were shaking like she’d had it for years.
I rushed back to be there on Thursday and saw a very
weak and upset Nana. The next few days
held lots of challenges as she couldn’t wear her teeth because she’d lost so
much weight that they wouldn’t stay in her mouth. She didn’t want to eat and she cried to go
home. She developed something in her eye
that no drops seem to help. My heart
broke for her. I knew the staff was
trying to help her, but progress was slow.
I left on Sunday, July 28th knowing that
the staff was doing all they could and that she was under the competent care of
Sharon and the rest of the family. I
returned Thursday August 8th and she was having another dip in
her progress. The day I drove up, she
had fallen out of bed. Thank goodness,
no broken bones, but she had twisted her glasses so she couldn’t wear
them. My first task when I arrived was
taking them to the Eye Center in Muncy just before they closed. The understanding technician molded them back
into shape and used me to adjust them the best we could.
By this time, the Lasik was discontinued and now
they were pumping fluids into Nana to rehydrate her plus still doing the IV for
antibiotics. She was doing Occupational
and Physical therapy to work on getting her strong again.
I stayed for eight days and in that time, I saw
improvement that I didn’t think was possible after seeing her that first time
in Muncy. The first day, I was feeding
her and begging her to eat more. By the time
I left, she was eating on her own and eating more each day and eating different
things than she’d ever tried at home.
After about four days, she finally got off the IV fluids and the IV
antibiotics. Sharon had discovered that Nana
liked to go outside so we did that every day we could. By the time I left, she was allowed to use
the walker to go to the bathroom and even to the dining hall.
I left on Thursday, August 15th and Nana
continued to improve in her eating and therapy.
With the TLC from Sharon, all her wonderful visitors, including
Pastor Mike who came often, and the Muncy staff, she made even further progress.
I came up and took
her home on Tuesday, September 3rd – six weeks after she’d arrived
at Muncy Skilled Nursing.
Nana’s been home a little over a week now and is
moving around her apartment quite well, even without her walker. She’s somewhat house bound until she finishes
the therapy from Home Health Service, but she’s anxious to get back into her
routine and can again be “her own boss” as she describes it. She’s working at doing things on her own
again, like dressing, eating, and taking her pills.
The Muncy Home was not home for Nana. However, even she would admit that most of the staff was kind and compassionate. She
especially liked Harry, the Nurse Extender and Lindsey, her occupational therapist.
No one there wanted her to feel like a
prisoner. They wanted her to go home,
but to be safe and healthy when she got back home.
As we celebrate Nana’s 90th birthday at
her party on September 14th and her actual birthday on September 15th,
the greatest gift is having Nana well and back in her own home.
