by Echo » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:50 pm
Hey y'all, this is Kelly. I just walked in the door. Got mom admitted to the hospital around 3:45, it's now 10:15. Took 6 hours to get her checked in and then finally into a room and settled. She's resting. Not too happy about having to wear a breathing mask (like a cpap, but called a bipap). Unbeknownst to me, until today, she has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). I have no clue when she was told this but she did not tell me. She has bronchitis and pneumonia so says Lori, the night nurse taking care of her. At one point while she was in the exam room there were 9 different nurses in the room with us. Her O2 level was 62 at it's lowest. It's now at a safe 90. Due to the COPD she has too much CO2 in her system. Hard to breath, she's loopy like she's high or has dementia. I do not know at this point how long she will be in the hospital or how any of this will play out. They're monitoring her oxygen, bp and heart rate. The bp is still high but she's not taken any of her meds in the last few days. David had a fit with me today when I called him. I honestly didn't know it was this bad. I had no clue about the COPD. She kept saying she didn't feel like she had bronchitis. I knew I did (started 8/16, had to take 18th and 19th off work and dosed up on cough medicine and slept a LOT and I've about got it kicked), I've had it often enough over the years. I thought she was tired because she wasn't feeling well and because her bp was up because of not taking her meds and all the stress we've had lately. Our neighbor behind us, Michelle, came and talked to me this morning while I was outside. She is/was a nurse and said mom looked hypoxic? Mom told David this afternoon that she'd planned on going to the hospital tho she hadn't said anything to me. I just didn't know/realize the extent of all this. I told her today I felt like I'd failed her. She keeps telling me if it wasn't for me we'd be in trouble. I told her she was scaring the heck out of me and she said she was scaring herself. I told her I can't help her if she doesn't tell me what's going on. There's more to it than what I can see, obviously. Lori gave me a packet on COPD. Had I known about it I would have looked it up. I would have recognized the symptoms.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I will keep ya posted. I'm on half hours tomorrow and will probably go see her for a bit after work. David wants to come down but he works like 7a-7p. He'd get here around 9:30 and have to be gone by 5a to make it to work on time. Keep telling him it would be better to come down when he's got the next day off (Sunday). I need to get myself into the clinic (student nurses, doctors, dentists, cheap) as I have a wicked cavity and it's exposed to the nerve. I'm in pain, the entire right side of my jaw aches as does my ear and temple. But I need to get mom taken care of first.
~Kelly