Rainy Day, and another Aunt update

Saturday, March 07, 2009

My mom called the nursing home last night to check on my aunt, a little before 8pm. I guess the long nap she had started when we were there yesterday afternoon did her good; she perked up a bit after that, and didn't seem to have any confusion. Mom called again early this afternoon, she's still doing well, seems to know and remember everyone there, both the other residents and the staff. She had her lunch in the main dining room, and was feeding herself.

It started raining here around 8am, heavy at times, and there's no sign of it stopping any time soon. I waited til it wasn't raining quite so hard to go get my mail. It's very chilly out, only 34°F when I went out.

I tried a Spark recipe today for "Meal in a Muffin"; the recipe said it makes 18, but I had a lot of batter! I got 24 out of it. I tried one, but I'm not sure yet how much I like them. It was still pretty warm from the oven, and sometimes those things taste better after they have been out of the oven for awhile. I haven't decided if the recipe is going to be a "keeper" for me yet. I'm definately going to be freezing most of them, that's a lot of muffins for one person, lol!
recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detai
l.asp?recipe=524684

My hip wasn't feeling too bad when I went to bed last night, so I don't think that walk yesterday hurt me. It's hurting a bit more today, but I think the cold damp weather might be contributing to that too. I'm also feeling the arthritis in one of my shoulders today.

And we set the clocks ahead an hour tonight, Daylight Saving Time. I have always hated to lose that hour, especially an hour of sleep, but now that I am not working, hopefully I will have an easier time adjusting to it. I have nowhere I need to go today, and no set time that I have to do anything, so I went ahead and changed all the clocks in the house already. The computer changes itself, so I don't have to worry about that one.

  

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LADYDARYA 3/7/2009 3:46PM

I love to try out new recipes and decide which are going to be keepers and which aren't. Sometimes though....it can be an..adventure (?). I'm working on a recipe today and if it comes out okay I'm going to post it. Since it's "mine" I have to test it first. Glad to hear that aunt is doing better and eating in the diving room. That's good. Love the picture by the way. Don't get wet and enjoy your day!! Report Inappropriate Comment

My aunt is not any better :(

Friday, March 06, 2009

My mom called the hospital at 7pm last night, and was very surprised to find out my aunt had been released at 6pm, and taken back to the nursing home. The people at the home were surprised too, it was very short notice; they just got a call from the hospital and they were told "she's on way back". But, we thought since they had her on Xanax when we last saw her that afternoon, that that was the reason she seemed so out of it.

This morning, my aunt's nurse at the home called my mom. She was very concerned, because my aunt was pretty much unresponsive, and didn't know her own name at first. She was also asking to go back to the hospital. They wanted to wait until my mom and I got out there to see her for ourselves, they felt she was released from the hospital too soon, and wanted to know if we agreed before deciding what to do next.

In the meantime, before we got out there, she did perk up a little bit, though nowhere near as good as she was on Wednesday night, about 12 hours after the stroke at that time. They were able to feed her a little bit, and she seemed to be happy to be finally eating a little bit.

Before we saw my aunt, we talked with the nursing director. We all agree she was sent back to early, and we are wondering if she perhaps had one or more mini strokes since being admitted to the hospital, or having some type of seizure activity going on. For now, she is still at the home, and they are taking excellent care of her. They are going to have her doctor evaluate her again, and they also have a neurologist they can take her to to be evaluated. They will call my mom if they get any news or anything changes.

I think she is much worse than she was Wednesday evening. I also think that hospital released her because she was a nursing home patient, thinking that the nursing home could take care of her. If it had been anyone else, I don't see how they thought she was in any kind of condition to be released.

She knew my mom was there today, but I don't think she really knew me, or was even aware I was there; she barely opened her eyes, and was going back to sleep when we left there this afternoon. So for now, we are waiting to see what her doctor says and then we will decide from there what to do next.

It's in the low 50's here. A short time ago I got back from a 20 minute walk. I am still having my hip pain, but lately it hurts less when I am up and moving than when I am sitting. I am taking it easy though, and not going for speed when I'm walking, just trying to get my muscles stretched and used to moving again. I really wasn't hurting much at all while walking. I'm a little sore now, but not any more sore than I was before I went walking. I took a pain pill to hopefully prevent feeling more soreness later.

  

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MOM2ACAT 3/6/2009 4:42PM

She had a CT scan while in the ER; they had to make sure she had no bleeding in the brain before giving her the TPA, the clot busting drug. But to my knowledge, that was the only one done. Report Inappropriate Comment

LADYDARYA 3/6/2009 3:17PM

Did the hospital do a cat scan or an MRI on your aunt? Did they do more than one? She should have had something like that upon admit to the hospital. If she does go see the neurologist then having that report would help figure out if she had had more "mini" strokes or seizure activity. Unfortunately, with insurance being what it is, and hospitals being how they are at time, sending someone to a NF before they are ready happens quite a lot (I work on screening for certain populations prior to NF placement). It can be very frustrating. I will continue to hold you and your family in my thoughts. By the way, I just caught myself using an abbreviation that you might not know -NF is nursing facility.... I get into my thought process and I revert to how I think at work...go figure Report Inappropriate Comment

Recipe: Middle Eastern Chicken

Thursday, March 05, 2009

I found this recipe on About.com
I made it last night and it was very good, I had mine with wild rice.

MIDDLE EASTERN CHICKEN

4 5-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom *
1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and well rinsed
2 garlic cloves, slivered
1 14.5 ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro **

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place chicken breast in a glass baking dish large enough to accommodate the chicken in one layer. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine spices in a small bowl and sprinkle over chicken, followed by garlic slivers.

Pour garbanzo beans over chicken followed by the tomatoes. Bake uncovered 25 minutes.
Serve with couscous, rice or creamy polenta.
Serves 4

Per serving: Calories 321, fat 4.2 g, sodium 235 mg, carbs 29.7 g, fiber 7.9 g, protein 41.3 g

* I could not find cardomom in the store, and I heard it's a very expensive spice anyway, so I substituted allspice.

** The recipe did not specify what to do with the cilantro, so I mixed mine with the tomatoes before pouring the tomatoes over the beans.

  

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PMCFARM 3/7/2009 10:12AM

Sounds yummy...DH & I both love chicken dishes. Report Inappropriate Comment

KITT52 3/5/2009 9:23PM

this sounds so good. I'll have to try it soon. I eat a lot of chicken. Thanks for the recipe Kitt Report Inappropriate Comment

Thursday, March 5th

Thursday, March 05, 2009

My mom and I went back to see my aunt last night, around 6pm. She seemed to doing slightly better then. She was talking a little better. She had a worked a little bit with a speech therapist, and did good with that. She is on a soft food diet for now, and she has to have someone feed her, because they only want her taking very small bites of food right now. She was able though to hold a cup on her own and drink through a straw. She seemed happy to see us, but we didn't stay long, she was obviously very tired and we could tell she was ready to go to sleep.

My mom called and talked to her nurse this morning. She was frustrated when she tried to get out of bed but couldn't, but then she remembered that she had had a stroke. But today she keeps thinking she is back at the nursing home, not the hospital, and keeps asking to go back to her "room"; meaning her room at the nursing home.

I had already made plans before this happened to get together with a couple of friends for lunch, and since my aunt was stable, I kept my plans. It's a small town, and if I were needed at the hospital if something came up, the restaurant was only a few minutes from the hospital anyway. But I think I needed that time just to talk and laugh with my friends for an hour.

Around 2pm my mom and I went to the hospital to see my aunt. She was kind of out of it; she became very agitated when Dawn, one of the student nurses, went home for the day. She really liked Dawn, and when she needed something after Dawn's shift was over, she became very upset that Dawn wasn't there, and wasn't understanding that Dawn went home and another nurse had taken over for her. Just before we got there, they had to give her something to calm her down. She was also on oxygen today, which she wasn't yesterday. But I think maybe they put her on that after she became stressed out over Dawn.
She didn't seem to know my mom and I were there today, but she kept calling out for Dawn, and you could tell the drugs they gave her to calm her down were making her sleepy, and she was trying to fight it.

It was discouraging that she didn't seem to be doing as well as when we left her last night, but I'm sure the sedation drug had a lot to do with it. It's got to be hard for them to keep her calm, but not so drugged up that she can't do her therapy to get better.

I just pray that she recovers enough to enjoy life again, and not have to be confined to a bed and feel confused all the time. I want her to live, but I want her to have quality of life too.

I just took a pain pill for my hip. Yesterday, the day after my Zometa treatment, that hip didn't hurt at all; I just felt the usual bone pain in my other leg instead. The same thing happened with my Zometa treatment last month; the hip pain mysteriously disapeared the day after my treatment, only to return as usual the next day. But the fact that I was pain free for a couple of days in that hip tells me that it should be possible to have more pain free days. But the bone pain in my right leg is gone today; with the Zometa, the bone pain is usually gone within about 36 hours.

I am hoping the next nerve block injection, which I'll be getting on the 17th, will make me feel even better. The local university here is doing their own Relay for Life, a 12 hour one instead of a 24 hour, at their indoor recreation center March 20th. I got an invitation to the Survivor Celebration and would really like to go, and be able to walk a few laps. This Relay is being done by the university; we will still be having the usual 24 hour Relay in the fall that Mecosta county has been doing for years.

  

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LADYDARYA 3/5/2009 4:23PM

With your aunt, I think it is just going to be a slow recovery - it does take time. I am hoping for the best for you and your family. I hope you get to do the relay for life!! Report Inappropriate Comment

My aunt is in the hospital

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

My Aunt Elinor is my mom's oldest sister. While I was growing up, she was a like a grandmother to me; two of my grandparents died before I was born, and the remaining two were gone by the time I was 7 years old.

She had a major stroke in Feb. 2003. It's amazing she survived it, as she was on her floor for 3 days before anyone found her, and one more night and she wouldn't have made it. She recovered enough to walk with a walker, after her doctor said she'd never be out of a wheelchair, and she got her speech back. She could no longer live on her own though, and had to move into a nursing home. She still had her mind intact though, and was always busy with whatever activities were going on there, and her favorite was bingo. She loves the people that work there, and they love her too.

This morning though, she wouldn't respond when they tried to wake her up, and give her morning meds. So after calling 911, they called my mom. I went to the ER with my mom. She was showing all the signs of a stroke, and couldn't move her left side, (her previous stroke was also on her left side). They did a CT scan, and no bleeding was found in the brain, so they gave her a clot busting drug, TPA. The TPA carries a risk of bleeding, especially with age; and my aunt is 88. But without the drug, she would not get any better than she was when she was brought into the ER, and she would have wanted to try the drug, despite the risk.

When we got there, she could talk a little, but not very well, and she could not open one eye.
She knew my mom and I though, and knew she was in the hospital. But she kept saying she wanted to go back to Metron (the name of the nursing home.) She understood she had a stroke, but didn't seem to understand why she needed to stay in the hospital to treat it.

They admitted her to a room around noon. She seemed to be much calmer there; I think because it was just a much more comfortable bed. By the time we left late this afternoon, she was talking a little better, and was moving her left foot. But she's not out of the woods yet. We still don't know to what extent this will affect her, and there is still a danger that the TPA will cause a bleed.

So far we have not spoken yet with her regular doctor, only the ER doctor. Mom and I will be going back to see her around 6pm tonight.

I am doing ok; I am feeling some bone pain from my Zometa treatment yesterday, but I know that pain is temporary, I will be a lot better tomorrow. My GERD is aggravated a little bit; mostly because of my diet today. I had no breakfast, I only ate a cereal bar before heading to the ER, and there wasn't much to pick from for lunch in the hospital cafeteria; they had taco salad fixings and nachoes today. I had a salad with tomatoes, (had one of those single serving packets of Kraft fat free dressing in my purse that I used), and had a small plate of nachoes with a little bit of meat and melted cheese. I am still tasting that meat! It had more grease in it than I am use to eating. But I plan to take the time tonight to eat a good dinner before I go back up there.

  

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PMCFARM 3/4/2009 8:26PM

Holding you and your family in prayer...look at the changes in your aunt since she was sent to the ER as positive! MarilynC. Report Inappropriate Comment

LADYDARYA 3/4/2009 4:39PM

I'm sorry to hear about your aunt. I hope that she recovers to her pre-stroke abilities.... Also, remember to take care of yourself!! Report Inappropriate Comment