Dear friends and fellow bloggers,
Some of you will remember that I am here in the City of Kamloops. I was to be here for approximately one month to look after my mom who came out of hospital two days after I arrived. I had been looking after her and nursing her for a few weeks when she took a sudden turn for the worse.
On Wednesday (just passed) as I went to town to pick up some fish for my visiting niece, mom called me and asked me to rush home. When I arrived her lips were turning blue and she was shivering a great deal. She could not get warm. I had to turn on the space heater, get her warm drinks and cover her as best I could. All the while I kept insisting I should call the ambulance. She said an emphatic "no". We have been through these shivering episodes before and so I took a chance that she would warm up and return to normal. Previously these episodes have indicated a bladder infection left untreated. In mom's case she suspected a bladder infection but it didn't seem that advanced.
After a stressful hour or so, mom's lips returned to their natural colour and she stopped shivering but she seemed a bit confused and not able to form a lot of her thoughts into sentences. She was exhausted so I let her rest.
In the morning, after her bath, we went to the hospital ER room where we waited for 5.5 hours before seeing the doctor. Mom seemed ok and looked much better than the previous night but after blood testing and a host of other tests, the doctor said mom's white blood cell count was 3x times the norm and he suggested she stay at least overnight perhaps a few nights in the hospital. Mom said she wanted oral antibiotics to go home and recover. The doctor simply said, "if you go home now, you will die at home." Apparently she has sepsis, or whole body inflammation.
That settled things. Mom remained in ER and was moved that night at 9:30 p.m. to the ward. I had left the previous hour so she put up a protest about where they were moving her and into what bed given her previous bad experiences in August at the same hospital. Fortunately they did listen to her. She is on the same hospital floor as she was last month but she is in a different ward and they have different nursing teams. From what I can see in my several visits, they are treating her better and she is in good spirits.
I am now sorting and packing everything at mom's apartment as best I can while at the same time trying to attending to her needs at the hospital. Originally the idea was that I would sort and pack on this trip as it appears to be ever more evident that mom needs to go into a nursing home despite her lack of enthusiasm for it. At this point, I am very ready for her to go into a facility where she can be monitored and cared for should anything go wrong. It is a hard decision but one that has taken years to get to. Now having read about sepsis and mortality rates after one has had sepsis, I fear the time could be short though I pray not. In the meantime, I want her to have a comfortable and worry free existence.
Here is the hospital where she is staying.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5:7
As I write this post I am very aware of so many who are dealing with the health needs of their elderly parents. Just yesterday afternoon a blogging friend wrote me to say her father had passed. Also, yesterday morning I had a call from a cousin whose father is in a nursing home and her mother is in a senior's residence with advancing dementia, cared for by the ailing second husband who has had several heart attacks which have left him weakened.
Lord I pray for these dear ones described above and for all those reading this post who have loved ones who are sick. Touch them and keep them and give grace and strength to those who care for them.
