Home from the Home

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 28^th 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 8^th 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 15^th 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 3^rd – 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 90^th birthday at her party on September 14^th and her actual  birthday on September 15^th, the greatest gift is having Nana well and back in her own home.