Cody Updates by Mom

The last two weeks have been really hard for mom.  If you didn’t see my live feed a couple weeks ago, mom fell and was sent to the ER around 5AM.  Luckily, nothing was broken and it didn’t appear that anything was injured.  A few days after, it seemed as if things were getting back to the normal that we had been seeing.

This last week was a different.  Mom is no longer walking.  She has spent the last 5-6 days in a wheelchair or bed.  She is also not opening up her eyes at all and no longer can feed herself.  They did take a urine sample but she doesn’t have an infection so that is not the culprit.

 

Change 1- Meds:  The nurse is going to request the docs to review Mom’s meds and possibly reduce her anti-psychotic meds.

 

 

When I saw her on Friday, they were trying to feed her lunch.  I took over for the nurse and immediately saw that mom was no longer able to understand the function of eating.  She would open her lips but not her teeth.  I was able to get her to take a couple bites.  The staff was concerned as this was the third day that she hadn’t eaten much.  When I saw her today, they had adjusted the eating process and were able to get her to eat more both Saturday and Sunday.  Unfortunately, it takes about an hour for them to get her to eat a majority of her meal.  Things that require chewing or biting are exceptionally hard.  Waffles went better today.

Change 2- Eating: Hopefully, starting tomorrow they will move mom to pureed meals.  She seems to do better if she doesn’t have to do much chewing.  They are already giving her up to three protein drinks a day. They will continue with that and increase it if she is unable to get nourishment with eating.

 

Change 3- Hospice:  I made the decision today to request hospice care for mom.  The nurses have out in the notes to have them call me tomorrow to set up a visit with the hospice team.  I am certain that there will not be any issues with getting this care for her.

 

If you would like to see mom before she passes, I would recommend doing it soon.  Please note that she is bruising very easy now.  She did try to sit up earlier in the week and hit her temple on the the window sill when they were getting her into bed.  Friday it looked like a small bruise, today I wanted to ask what the other guy looked like.

Today when I visited, I just sat and talked to her.  I rubbed her back and she did respond a little by leaning forward in her chair.  At one point it looked like she was going to try to get up but she is pretty weak.  I told mom today that it was ok for her to go.  I told her that we were all good here and Dad and Sonny were waiting for her in heaven.

It is time to start preparing.

• Request 1:  PICTURES. I would like to start getting pictures of mom together.  If you have photos please use the link below to put any pictures so the family can access them.
  • Pictures of Joanne
• Request 2: WRITINGS. I would like to have some of mom’s writings to be able to be shared at her celebration when we send her home.  Either in books, on posters or scrapbooks.  Please think of ways we can share what was so dear to mom with others.

Thank you. Mel