Been a rough day. I know I didnt give alot of info, but nutshell version (sorta). Background for those who dont know (or maybe always wondered & didnt wanna ask). My mom has Stills Disease (aka Juvenile Rheumatoid), diagnosed at 2 yrs old. Most people know she is stronger (in will alone) than most able-bodied people. She has bad days/weeks/months where she needs pretty much around the clock care (my 2, 4 & 6am alarmclock) & good times when she drives herself to De Park. Lately its been more bad than good & shes down to 72 lbs (from her usual 89). Then she got a virus (we believe, more test results still pending). 2 days of that wiped her out. I expected wed need to swing by the hospital for some fluids, but had no clue til she got there that she was critical (had we waited any longer she wouldnt be w/ us, Dr told us not to expect her to make it out of the hospital, been down this road w/ Mom before no one has ever said those words so plainly to me). Just a quick recap of the major concerns (Im exhausted). Her BP at arrival was 60/30, her body temp was 90 & the did a lactaid blood test (I learned something new today). Lactaid considered a pretty accurate way to measure overall health, including oxygen of the tissues & some other things. A reading of 1 is normal, 2 is a concern, 4 is a major concern, her level was 8.6! Thats when they started discussing putting a ventilator & central line in. Mom was surprisingly still awake & they were explaining it to her as if they wanted her to consent to both & do them simultaneously & basically immediately. I ended that conversation & told them I would cross both bridges separately when/if the time came, I am her decision maker & would consent to a central line only if necessary (been there, she hated me for it last time, she got over it), but the breathing tube wasnt something I was comfortable with until I saw there were no other options (I know my mother, I know how quickly she goes downhill & back up, I wasnt making any rash long-term decisions when she was still talking, she went to sleep shortly after & we were unable to wake her up). So, after a crapload of IV meds & bigger load of IV fluids 💉, & hypothermia blankets, her body temp was slowly coming up, her BP was up & down (better than consistently down), they were in the room drawing for other bloodwork & i asked them if they could do an interim Lactaid test just to see if the #s had moved at all (I knew they were waiting for meds to run through her, but I wanted to see if there was any progress, was hoping for a 6 or 7) b/c all the decisions I had to make weighed heavily on that test & if #s didnt go down even slightly, I had some thinking to do. The nurse did a rapid test in the room & came up w/ a reading of 1.05, she felt the test was inaccurate, I tended to agree, so we basically ignored it. A while later, they did more bloodwork & sent to lab, Lactaid results finally came back a little while ago at .08!👍 Theres more, shes not out of the woods, but the improvement in that test alone in just several hours time is a miracle in itself 😇 Thank you God & thank you friends & family for ALL the thoughts & prayers. You guys really pulled through for me 💪 Keep em coming! 💞
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 05:01:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015