LIVING WITH MCL

Followed by the worst night of my life. Things did not go as planned yesterday. I didn't even get the chance to worry about getting Edie up the 4 steps into the house after having her blood coagulation levels checked yesterday. On the way to the car, Edie stumbled on the first step,  fell backwards, and hit her head on the ground.  She didn't hit hard, but................ I read in the Coumadin manual, you have to be concerned when you hit your head, due to possible bleeding. So after she managed to maneuver herself to the edge of the porch and stand, I got her into the car, and just took her straight to the ER for evaluation. Long story short, the CT scan was negative, and 6.5 hours later Edie was in a skilled nursing facility. She is just too weak for me to take care of. Words can’t explain how devastated I am. I barely got an hours sleep last night dreaming of nightmare scenarios, and she doesn’t have her phone, so I can’t call her, and visiting hours don’t start un...

Past experiences have taught me my first instincts are usually correct, but like everything else in life that isn't a guarantee, and after this first night and morning, I'm starting to have some doubts. Edie was well enough to be released from the hospital. Her oxygen saturation levels are stable, and while they do drop some with exertion, she recovers relatively quickly once at rest. The problem is she fatigues easily, and compound that with the severe neuropathy in her legs, it's a struggle just getting up from the seated position. Today should be the test.  She scheduled to have her blood clotting levels checked at the infustion. I'm pretty sure I can get her there without a problem, but getting her up the 4 step, and back into the house maybe a challenge. Stay tuned. I may be asking some of you for help! :)

It happened so quick yesterday, it was hard to comprehend. The doctor comes into visit, examines her, steps out for a minute, and on her return says Edie's ready to leave. I think it had more to do with the fact the copay requirement was only for 7 days, and after that there's no cost to the patient. Medicare must treat long stays differently. Anyways, the first plan was to send her to a Rehab center, AKA skilled nursing facility, nursing/convalescent home, but Edie didn't like that idea (nor did I). But since she was off the oxygen, and still in need of rehab, we managed to convince (we complained a lot) the powers to be that rehab through a home health care agency (a Medicare option) was acceptable. So now we wait. Edie needs to be evaluated by the physical therapist one more time today, and then she will be transferred home this afternoon. Finally, there's light at the end of the tunnel. It won't necessarily be easy, she's still weak, but I think I c...

That's what Kaiser calls the unit Edie had been staying in for the past week, but since she's been making such good progress, yesterday they've moved her to a Telemetry Unit. Last night they took her off the IV Heparin (it's Coumadin alone now), and she was even able to sit upright, in a chair, last night to eat dinner. I only wish I could say I was doing as well. Yeah, I know any discomfort I may be experiencing pales in comparison to what Edie has endured this past week, or even these past several months, but that doesn't minimize my situation. Trying to maintain a semblance of normal life, while driving back and forth to the hospital to visit Edie, picking up her best friend, who flew in from Ohio, at LAX on Friday (and taking her back this morning), all while continuing to worry about Edie, is starting to take it's toll. I just can't seem to relax. Sure I can sit back, lie in the recliner and watch TV, but my mind doesn't follow suit. Ridin...

Or is it day 6? I'm not quite sure anymore. It just seems like an eternity. Anyways, Edie is making progress. They think they've narrowed the infection down to either a bacterial or fungal infection, although they can't be entirely sure since she hasn't been able to provide a sputum sample. Plus they've been able to reduce the amount of oxygen, or something. I'm not exactly sure. She's using a different face mask now. (Just got word, 8 AM, they've switched her to a nasal cannula .) Still, the slightest bit or exertion, or if she takes her face mask off, e.g. to eat, her oxygen saturation still drops pretty quickly. Other than that, she is feeling better, and is in better spirits. 4 of her neices and nephew, from the Valley, came to visit her yesterday, so that boosted her spirits, and Saturday her other nephew, from San Francisco, will be visiting. Plus today her best friend from Ohio is flying in for the weekend to surprise her. Hopefully that ...

over the passed 12 hours. No longer are they going to put a filter in Edie's artery to catch the clot. Instead they put her on IV Heparin to try and dissolve the clot. They also believe the problem with her oxygen saturation is due to an infection in the lungs, so they've also put her on IV antibiotics to help relieve that. Still not sure when they're gonna let her out of the hospital, but at least she did seem a little better this evening when I went to visit. Only time will tell of course.

Called 911 last night. Edie was having lots of trouble breathing, couldn't eat, and was just not feeling good. She was thinking she was having a heart attack, but that turned out not to be the case. Within a short time, the paramedics arrived (always an exciting experience for the neighbors), and discovered her oxygen levels were around 50%. They immediately administered oxygen, in addition to a few other things (which I'm not exactly sure of), and then transported her to the hospital, after pushing all the furniture around, and totally disrupting the house. Anyways, without going into any more extraneous detail, which I could probably write a paragraph or two on, it was discovered she has a "string" clot in her leg, and they're going to install a filter between the artery/vein and the lung, to catch the clot before it gets to the lung, should it break off. The doctors still aren't sure why her oxygen levels are so low, and drop very rapidly when the oxyge...