Never a Dull Moment

For those of you anxiously awaiting an update the last few days... my apologies. It would seem that it's hard to keep all of these balls in the air at once. Something had to give, so I spent some time with my mom and my family, instead of on the computer.Last Thursday, Claudia was discharged from the hospital and admitted to Orem Nursing and Rehab. My first impression of the place was terrible (I don't think my mom was impressed either). There were signs on the doors asking you not to let the residents outside even if they asked politely, and that horrible nursing home smell. The nurses and aids on staff that night were cold, inattentive, and moved at the speed of cold tar running uphill. It took a full 45 minutes to get the polar ice buckets filled. They lost her prescriptions for painkillers and blood thinners, which they didn't seem to care too much about. I never once saw them empty her catheter that night, and I was there for a long time. When I left her, I was worried, and she wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into. Thankfully, things picked up with the new day and the new shift of nurses. Friday, the PT team came to walk her down to the "workout gym" for her evaluation and to work her over. She made it successfully down the hall, into the right room, where they had her take a seat. She was feeling a little dizzy, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on a cot with her feet in the air. She passed out on them! YIKES! Someone called and told Averie what had happened (I was with a client). She relayed the message to me, and we took off. My client, Garrett Muse has a son Brock's age, so he took Brock to his house, while Corbin, Averie and I rushed to Claudia's side. By the time we arrived, she was happily eating her lunch like nothing had happened. After lunch, they decided to give PT another go. We were walking with her down the hall, when I realized I had missed a call from the Muse's, and now had a message waiting for me. I dialed up my messages, only to find out that Brock ran into a brick pillar and was for sure going to need stitches. Seriously, there is never a dull moment...

Cathy (Brock's friend's mom) met me at his pediatrician's office (who was able to get me right in) with a bleeding Brock. She had two bandages on his forehead, and he was dripping blood out of the bottom one. We went right back to the room and pulled off the band aids. He has two cuts above his left eye. One was about a half inch long with a puncture wound in the middle making it about a quarter inch deep and the other was maybe a quarter inch long and kind of gaping. He got six stitches, a couple of Tylenol, and we headed back to the rehab facility. By then, the nurses were concerned about how red and hot my mom's right leg had become. They had the wound specialist look at it and draw circles around it, and they were trying desperately to contact her doctor. The area continued to grow and was spreading up her thigh. After hours of unsuccessfully calling Dr. Jackson, it was finally late enough to call the on-call doctor. By this time, the nurses and I were both calling relentlessly, trying to make some kind of progress. Eventually, I got Dr. Fox who was kind, and listened intently to what was happening, but then decided he would need to discuss it with Dr. Jackson before making any decisions. He was thinking about sending her back to the hospital, and wanted to know what Jackson thought. After three and a half hours of waiting, I called him again to see what he'd decided. He couldn't find Dr. Jackson either, so he ordered an antibiotic and said that if there was no improvement by the morning, she would have to go back to Utah Valley Hospital. Later that night, Dr. Jackson did finally call. Turns out, he was camping with the scouts and wasn't getting great reception. He wasn't terribly worried about the infection, and dismissed it as cellulitis. The good news is that by the next morning, the red area had receded some and it was looking and feeling much better. YEAH ANTIBIOTICS!! She was able to do a lot of PT yesterday. They taught her some great tricks for getting around better with her legs, and she is feeling much more confident in herself. In fact, she even got in trouble with the nurses for getting up to go to the bathroom by herself (you have no idea what a big accomplishment this is!). Paul and Jeri stopped by with their kids to check on her after lunch. Jay and Josie came with Jenna, Nate and Preslie at dinner time. I'm sure she enjoyed seeing someone other than me and my kids. She called me this morning and asked me to do something for her. This is the first time she has asked me for anything, since we started on this journey. She asked me to stay home and enjoy my family today. She said it would be the last time I would have them to myself without her for a while, and she wanted me to make the most of it. What can I say? My hands are tied. Of course I will honor her request- it is the only thing she has asked me for. So, right now I am wasting precious time on this computer and I am going to stop. If you think about it, give her a call so she won't be too lonely. She is coming home tomorrow!