I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. It was another long day at Pearl's, getting acclimated to the new routine. All her food must be pureed now, to make it easy to swallow, and she's still too weak to walk. She's also on oxygen for the time being, though we've been able to turn it off for extended periods with no deleterious effect for Pearl. When she was discharged from Northridge Hospital they said she no longer needed it, so we don't even know why they brought it to the house. By "we" I mean Pearl's daughter as well as myself. She is still here and will be staying until Pearl can walk again, because there is no way I could care for her alone if she could not. We will have help as previously mentioned, from all the various "home health" people who will come over, but they only visit long enough to perform their tasks. They don't stay. Therefore, when Helen does go home (provided Pearl can walk), I will be on my own in an entirely new frontier. This is why I asked you to say a prayer for me, too.
But how's this for some good news : today, just one day removed from the hospital, Pearl ate two meals (high in calories cause we want her to gain weight) and drank an Ensure and also a thickened milk. The milk is a specialty product for people who have difficulty swallowing, which is common in late stage dementia. But in Pearl's case, she did great. The pureed meals and the liquids went down like silk, because Pearl was relieved of the burden of chewing, which is also difficult for dementia patients because it messes with their esophageal mechanism. All told, she did great on her eating and drinking. This was a far cry from what we were told by the grim, graveyard, death-panel doctor two days ago, who told us in dire tones : "She can have nothing", by which he meant no food or drink, because he insisted she would aspirate.
I won't go into a long tirade, but I'm not a big fan of hospital doctors. We had quite an ordeal dealing with this one guy, and I've dealt with "bottom line" MDs before when my parents were sick with terminal illnesses. Folks - and this goes for anyone who reads this - I am here to tell you that if anyone you love ever lands in the hospital, that you need to be there to advocate for them if they cannot speak for themselves, because what will happen if no one is there, no relative or loved one, is that the doctors and the hospital administration will decide if your family member's life is worth saving or not. I am not hardly joking you, and it's f-ing spooky. The Republicans are right when they talk about "death panel" policies at hospitals. I am not a Republican, but I've witnessed these practices three times now, over a fifteen year span, during the illnesses of both of my parents and now Pearl, the lady for whom I caregive.
Had I not been there to stick up for Pearl during her five day stay at Northridge Hospital, she might be facing a different situation right now, because this SOB wanted us to let her go, and he wanted that outcome because it's part of a fucking financial policy. He even told us that if she ate or drank anything, she would aspirate it, meaning it would go into her lungs and she would die a horrible death from aspiration pneumonia. What he didn't tell us was that he was saying all of this to 1) clear the hospital room to kick Pearl out and pave the way for the next patient with fresh insurance coverage, and 2) to protect his ass, and that of the hospital from a feared malpractice claim. When they tell you all this doomsday shit, it's so they can say "we warned you" in case you try to sue them.
So that's the end of my tirade, but again my good friends, I must warn you against death panel doctors. They are real and it's no joke. They will decide on a person's life if you are not there to speak up for that person. In Pearl's case, instead of accepting the verdict of this SOB, that she would never eat or drink again, we asked the speech therapist to check Pearl out. This lady was awesome. She was very thorough, gave Pearl many different liquids to swallow, of various thicknesses, and determined that, while Pearl's ability to eat solid food is compromised, she could still have a pureed diet with thickened liquids. In other words, she could indeed continue to eat and drink, but just on a special diet.
So, instead of having to slowly starve to death, as per the verdict of the death panel doctor, today she had eggs with cream cheese, and later mashed potatoes with green onions and gravy, along with the aforementioned beverages, all pureed to the consistency recommended by the wonderful speech therapist.
And to top it all off, because she's back at home, we took Pearl on a long neighborhood push in her wheelchair. T'was a gorgeous early Spring day with blue sky and warm sun. We saw doggies and birds, flowers and trees. Pearl had a happy expression on her face that for me was beyond measure after all she's been through in the past week.
But no, I'm not a fan of doctors, though nurses are the angels (and real heroes) of the medical profession.
That's basically all I know for tonight. I'm in entirely new territory here, my fellow movie fans. I hope I will be able to keep up our nightly motion picture schedule (pronounced shedge-yoole), but for now we'll just take things one day at a time. I will keep writing no matter what happens, so stay tuned, because I'll see you tomorrow night at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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