Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Went for a Visit to the Hospital

I went to visit mom at the hospital Monday. It is a statutory holiday here so it was rather quiet around the town. I will post photos of the city later.

A view of the City of Kamloops toward the north shore from the hospital grounds.
A view to the hospital from my walk up the hill.
A view from the hospital window. See the Kamloops River in the background.

Mom is doing well but very eager to get out of the hospital. She feels uncomfortable in there because it isn't set up for her like her apartment. At home she not only has the comfort of home, but she also has a special lift chair, and many other aids for mobility and independent living.

In the hospital room they don't even put a sheet on the bed. I have no idea why because they cover most of the mattress with pads and small blankets so they might as well put sheets down. It makes no sense. When she has asked about it they tell her the mattress is covered (which is it) and it is like having sheets on it (which is isn't).

The mattress does have some kind of fabric on it which is very slippery so it is hard for her to get comfortable as she slides around on it. Also she finds the mattress fabric irritating to her skin.

Here is a look at her leg. It had cellulitis and she has been in the hospital bed for 3 weeks waiting for it to get better. You can read more about cellulitis here

 Can you see how the dead skin has just peeled off?
Leg with cellulitis and dead skin peeling off. As you can see the leg is still very inflammed.
Her left leg used to look like this too but now there is absolutely no redness and previous wounds have healed. I think the heavy duty antibiotics she was receiving intravenously for a week really helped.
Mom is really anxious to get out of hospital. She says it is too difficult to keep the leg from getting reinjured in there when they insist on her having physiotherapy while there and that she do everything herself. Given all the equipment lying close by it is easy to see how the leg can be injured as it is quite fragile when red like this.
Once she gets home, (today is supposed to be discharge day), she can rest her leg.

My brother washed the carpets when he was here over the weekend. I have also been making the apartment ready by putting everything that was moved during carpet cleaning, back in place. I also washed dishes, floors and the bathroom and packed some clothes for the discharge girl. That was how I spent my statutory holiday. In my travels to and from the hospital, I saw a lot of hub=bub on the city buses. The high school students were out in full force doing last minute school shopping and hanging out with their friends sharing excitment about back to school which commences Tuesday.

10 comments:

Bossy Betty said...

Yikes! Hope your mom is out of the hospital soon and feeling great!

Joyful said...

Yes, thanks Betty. We hope so too.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Wow..incredible! Poor thing! Your mom must be strong! That MMS works so good for the skin you know..certain things it is so powerful. Anyway, my prayers are with her..thanks for sharing- it's important to know what's going on!

Joyful said...

Hi Regina, thanks for popping in. Yes, mom really is incredibly strong. She has endured so much. I really do appreciate your prayers for her. Blessings :-)

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

Bless all of you. Glad that your mom is getting such great care and will be home now.keep smiling :)

Joyful said...

KleinsteMotte, mom is so glad to be home. She has missed being able to breathe fresh air from an open window. Bless you :-)

Katy ~ said...

Oh your poor sweet Mom. I hope she is doing much much better and is doing well at home. I know that cellulitis can be difficult. How fortunate you are to have each other.

Joyful said...

Oh your poor sweet Mom. I hope she is doing much much better and is doing well at home. I know that cellulitis can be difficult. How fortunate you are to have each other.

Joyful said...

Wow..incredible! Poor thing! Your mom must be strong! That MMS works so good for the skin you know..certain things it is so powerful. Anyway, my prayers are with her..thanks for sharing- it's important to know what's going on!

Joyful said...

Yes, thanks Betty. We hope so too.

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