From The Past: September 23, 2007

Mom passed out Friday night. Dad had just flushed her indwelling catheter and she walked into the hallway.

Dad heard a thump and thought someone had dropped something, so he went to check and see what it was.

It was mom lying on the floor. She hit the back of her head and it was bleeding. She said she didn’t remember anything.

Dad put a bandage over the cut. He knew it wasn’t bad enough to require stitches, but they did call the Markey Cancer Center.

The doctor on call at the Markey thought it happened because her blood sugar was low, but mom knew that wasn’t the case and tried to tell him that. She has lived with diabetes long enough to know when her sugar is low.

Saturday morning, the following morning, she was sitting at the kitchen table when dad flushed her catheter again. She started to stand and realized that it was happening again. She said she laid her head down on the table.

They had an appointment to check her platelet levels at the Markey that day, so when she got there she told them what had been going on. They drew blood, but her platelet levels were fine, so they sent her home.

Last night a doctor from the Markey called to tell her that the cultures had come back and they all showed a bacteria growing. (I believe these cultures were done at her last appointment.)Apparently, there has been a bacteria in her catheter line, so each time dad flushed her, that bacteria was being pushed in with the fluids and causing her to pass out.

They admitted her to the hospital and that is where she is this morning. She will be in for at least four days and maybe more. I will keep you updated on her progress.

September 24, 2007

On Sunday, they took a chest x-ray and ran IV fluids in mom all day. We were able to visit with her for a very short time before heading to Berea for a family reunion (Kevin’s dad’s side of the family). It is unfortunate that she was admitted to the hospital the same day we had this event, but it’s one of those things which could not be helped.

This was my first trip to Berea, however I never saw downtown or any of the artsy shops I have heard about. I definitely would like to return and visit the shops or a festival. I think they have some sort of art festival, but I don’t know when it is held.

This reunion was a fish fry and yes, I did eat. I had fish, a hushpuppy, roll, potato salad, baked beans, BLT pasta salad, and potato chips. I cannot even tell you how good and salty those potato chips were after months of not having any. They also had desserts and I tried not one but two! I had a thin slice of apple pie and a scoop of banana pudding. Both were delicious.

Needless to say, I was anxious to go for our walks when we arrived back in Winchester so I could work off a few calories. This is the site we saw when we took Guido for his walk:

On our right was the sunset:

The moon was on our left:

Guido was just happy we were home because he had some business to take care of.

Mom did see a doctor today, but it was not one she was familiar with. I know she received platelets, but other than that nothing was clear to me and I don’t know that it was clear to her either. Hopefully I will know more tomorrow.