Hello. It's me.... Amy Clark.
Once again I come to this place to write about my mom's journey of health. If you want to see what happened before check out: https://debbiefromm.blogspot.com/ That first link has her story about her brain tumor (2009) and then meningitis (2013).
So what's happening now.....let me catch you up.
Some of her troubles started back in January where she started having trouble with her eye sight and itching/pain in her back. Blindness runs in the family, both her grandmother and mom had Macular Degeneration so we had her tested for this. We also looked into shingles for the itching and pain.
Last week - Mom had been ok. I saw her everyday while I worked with Daddy on taxes. We often went to lunch together and we talked all day long. Saturday night - the night before the unexpected trip to the hospital she and Daddy had gone to Costco and walked all around. They ate out. All was ok!
On Sunday (March 19, 2023), Mom had a fall. It was EARLY in the morning and Daddy heard her and went to her side to help. They decided Sunday to stay home, stay quiet, and just feel better. By the early afternoon it was evident that Mom had lost some strength in her left side.
So - Daddy did what he needed to do and went to have her checked out by doctors. They drove to Baylor Scott and White Hospital in Waxahachie. Once there, the doctors determined that she had a stroke on her right side. It seems like she may have also had a stroke at an earlier time (not sure when) and then the stroke on Sunday could have been a second stroke. From the strokes her vision, strength, and movement on the left side of her body were greatly impacted. She can barely see out of her left eye, and can hardly move her left arm and leg. At checkin, her blood pressure was something like 265/163 and her sugar levels were too high also. She also showed elevated creatinine levels so there has been some stress on her kidneys.
They then checked her in to room 608 and began the process of helping her mend. She got to her room and seemed to be upbeat. Everyone said that they would work with her a couple of days and then she would be moved to a rehab facility to begin really getting her body moving again. We really thought everything was ok. Mom was talking and laughing and seemed to enjoy all of the attention. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the doctors came in and went, and the plan remained the same. A few days - then rehab.
On Tuesday evening while I was there she and I went through her "exercises". I was the counter. I had to count that she squeezed her hand 10 times on her right side with a makeshift tool and then 10 times on her left side with the tool. She liked to squeeze her hands at the same time together because one at a time was harder for her.
We moved on to her legs. She lifted her right leg up about 6 inches off the bed and set it down again - she did this 20 times. Then we moved on to her left leg. I counted MAYBE 3. She was at a higher number. She just counted each time her body wiggled as one for her left side. At one point she was doing butt-lifts more than picking up her left side. We were in fits of laughter joking about how she would have to get new pants after all this flat bottom exercising! I left her that evening and headed back to take care of my son, Luke. Daddy and I had missed seeing each other - he got up there later that evening to spend the night.
Wednesday - HEIDI came in from San Francisco! We had not seen her since THANKSGIVING - so we were all happy to see her. Luke, Rory and I brought dinner up to the hospital so we could all eat. Mom had her eyes closed quite a bit. She joked with us. At one point, I asked - what blood pressure reading is too low? To which mom started singing, "How low can you go? How low can you go?" Humor is always important at times like these!
Wednesday night her temperature started going up. She is fighting an infection - although they don't know what kind or where it is coming from, because the spinal tap was unsuccessful. Since they do not know exactly what is causing the infection they are treating her for some of the more serious ones just in case like meningitis or another more serious infection.
Over the last couple of days she has been having a lot of itching caused by a rash that seems to have spread to most of her body. She also says she is in pain, but hasn't been able to tell us exactly where the pain is. Her neurocognitive abilities have also gone down a little as she has been battling the stroke and infection. She will yell "OUCH" or "DICK!", but she doesn't say too many other things.
The doctors are not really sure right now what the next step of the plan is. They are continuing to run lots and lots of tests to both further pinpoint what infection we are dealing with and continue to assess her neurocognitive abilities. They did an ECG last night, and they think she might be having seizures so they started her on some epileptic meditations.
On a sad note, Thursday and Friday Daddy and Heidi worked by themselves to get her wedding ring off. Her engagement band came off in tact, but her wedding band had to be cut off. The nurses worked 2 days to wiggle the ring off before finally cutting it off. The band was so thick, cutting it alone took hours. So we think this shows the strength of Mom and Daddy's marriage. P.S. Mom gave Heidi permission to cut it off. She was tired of people messing with it.
Small side note here - I was SUPPOSED to go help Heidi at the hospital Thursday afternoon. At lunch I had a runny nose. I had been tired the night before and just thought it was the running to and from the hospital and still trying to work..... and JUST INCASE took a Covid test. And yes. I have Covid. So I am quarantined at home - and cannot go see mom or help Heidi and Daddy.
Heidi and Daddy are switching nights to stay at the hospital with her. The doctors are trying to treat her pain, but don't want to give her anything too strong because her kidneys are working very slowly right now. Daddy, Heidi and I thank you in advance for all of the prayers that you will pray. Mom needs them. Look here daily for updates - that way you will stay informed. Thank you for following.
We can't thank each of you enough for doing your part to support and take care of Debbie. This new blog is a very helpful thing, thank you for keeping us all in the loop. It definitely helps us to know what to pray for and to send "thank you prayers" for your love and suport during Debbie's hospital stay, rehab and recovery.
ReplyDeleteLove from Iowa Jim& Rita