 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / January 2005More on My Mom
Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing was that she was moving her left arm and just holding it in the air like she was reaching for something and moving her mouth like she was talking but no sound. There was no response to anyone's voice. But if you put soft food in her mouth, pudding or such, she would swollow it. It somewhat reminded me of when Mom had a psychotic reaction to IV solumedrol. She was "picking" at the air and staring into space then, So today I called the GP. I have left three messages for the neuro to call me and he hasn't responded. Dr is at a loss of what is going on with Mom and was going to call the neuro today. He changed Mom's IV abx since this all started a few days after she went on this particular version of IV Ceftin which is known to cause seizures in the elderly if they have renal insuffiency, which Mom does. He feels this is different than her other attacks but is rather at a loss to explain what is going on. I hope to hear from both of them tomorrow or else I'm asking for another neuro. When I saw her tonight, she did open her eyes and look at me. I'm not sure she knew who I was at first. She had been asleep and was very thirsty which she indicated by shaking her head yes when I ask if she was thirsty. But that was the only response I had from her with the many attempts I made to ask her yes and no questions. She only keeps her eyes open for a few minutes and then doses off again. But a few times she opened her eyes and smiled real big at me so I think she recognized me then. I fed her some yogert and she ate it well but with her eyes closed. When I give her water she screws up her face like it hurts or something. Can't figure that out. The nurses said she was better tonight than earlier in the day and that she only ate about 20% of the food they gave her. Her diet is all soft as if you give her something to chew she just chews and chews forever and doesn't ever swallow. So maybe she was better from the anti-seizure med or maybe because they stopped the abx that was causing the seizure. She starts the new abx tomorrow am. Havn't looked that one up yet but will. I spent a good part of the afternoon researching her meds. I searched seizures in the elderly - that's an interesting topic. Mom has a lot of factors that can contribute to that. Plus she has had a few falls this year where she hit her head not to mention the drugs that she takes that lower the seizure threshold, her renal insufficiency, diabetes, and past strokes. Then I learned about something called, I think, Todd's Paralysis. It is a neurological condition characterized by a brief period of transient (temporary) paralysis following a seizure. The paralysis - which may be partial or complete - generally occurs on one side of the body and usually subsides completely within 48 hours. Todd's paralysis may also affect speech or vision. And that sounds very much like what has happened to Mom in her previous attacks. Of course, this time it's different. And she's moving her left side in her sleep but not on command. I really think a neuro needs to be more involved. He's in trouble with me tomorrow! Thanks for listening! I'm praying for Mom's way to be eased.....she can't be comfortable. Cyberhugs, Diane W. ((((((((((((((((((dianew and mom))))))))))))))))))) sending prayers for your strength and endurance and your mom's comfort and easing. i'm so sorry it's been so complicated, difficult and stressful for both of you, hon. kate > Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the > day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > Cyberhugs, > Diane W. Diane, It doesn't sound like they know much about what is going on. I wonder why they can't find the reason behind all of this? I hope you get some answers soon I know it must be driving you crazy not knowing. debbie m. http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/angels1/ > Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the > day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > Cyberhugs, > Diane W. God Bless your mom and I wish her well fast. Audie I don't know if this will help Diane, but the behaviors you describe are very common during the last days or hours of life. Having watched 3 of our parents die slowly, I can tell you that these are actually comforting times for them. When Wendy's Mom would rally from these episodes, she would describe wonderful conversations with loved ones long since past. She was so looking forward to being with them again when she finally did pass. So, I guess my advice is not to fight it Diane. Whether you believe in a hereafter or not, whether you think these hallucinations or actual visits from beyond the veil, I can assure you that they seem real to your mother, and that she enjoys them. I know it's hard. Hang in there and please accept my prayers in your behalf. Walt > Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the > day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > Cyberhugs, > Diane W. >I don't know if this will help Diane, but the behaviors you describe are >very common during the last days or hours of life. Having watched 3 of our [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Walt The above is so well said and lived and is very close to 2 of the 4 of our parents that have passed away. It is also close to what took place with an older neighbor that I sat with for awhile that passed away. Walts advice to accept what is taking place while doing what you can will help Diane to accept that death is part of our life and it is a time for remembering the good times and talking about it with the person as the Lord's timetable takes place. in my prayers Harv > The above is so well said and lived and is very close to 2 of the 4 of our > parents that have passed away. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > in my prayers > Harv Good to see you back my friend. How are you? Walt >> The above is so well said and lived and is very close to 2 of the 4 of >> our parents that have passed away. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Walt Thank you for your interest but this thread is about what Diane W is living with and my pain and problems mean very little to what she is going through as you have said so well. May God give her strength, patience, and a mind set to let things happen as they will. You and I will be in her mothers place someday and we can only pray that we have someone there for us as we live through this part of life. Harv Thanks for the kind words Walt and Harv. That was how it was with my Dad before he died but he had an underlying fatal condition. With Mom, everything else is stable. She has good vital signs all the way around. I've sat there and wondered if she could be dying. It would be a comfort for her to go now, I'm sure. But other than an irregular heart beat now and then, everything else is fine. Do you think it could still be so? Diane > Thanks for the kind words Walt and Harv. That was how it was with my > Dad before he died but he had an underlying fatal condition. With Mom, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > beat now and then, everything else is fine. Do you think it could > still be so? Diane I think we should never underestimate the power of free will. My father-in-law "negotiated with Jesus" for two more years after his stroke, then decided it was time to die and did so, peacefully and with no regrets. I can't say what is happening with your mother. I just pray you will all feel comforted in whatever outcome occurs. Walt Walt, Thanks for saying this..I wasn't sure how to say it. I just went through the exact same thing Diane is describing with my grandpa. He passed away 3 days later. Diane, I hope the best for your mom. Will send prayers your way. melissa >I don't know if this will help Diane, but the behaviors you describe are >very common during the last days or hours of life. Having watched 3 of our [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] >> Cyberhugs, >> Diane W. I was reading Walts response and you know, he is right. My Mom passed away last Dec after a lot of medical problems. She did things like this a few days before she left us. The last day I got to talk to her she was so happy, and telling us that she was leaving and she didnt want us to be sad. She didnt want to be left alone that night in the hospital but my brother and I decided not to stay. We figured she'd be alright. And she told us it was okay. So we went the next morning. I took my son to see her cause he hadnt seen her in awhile. She lay there sleeping. We stayed about 2 hours and I told him we'd let her sleep and come back the next day. He looked at me and said "What if shes not here?" I told him that she would be, she was just tired and sleeping. That night(2:30am) we got a call. My Mom was gone. I really believe that sometimes a person knows they are leaving this world. So, I just want to tell you to just spend as much time as you can with your Mom right now. She knows you are there. I wish Id stayed with mine more. Im gonna keep you and her in my prayers. Sandy Thank you for sharing this with me Sandy. Was your mom ill with something in particular when she was in the hospital? Mom slept most of the day today. The nurses said they are moving her off of ICU since all her vital signs are good and they don't consider her condition critical anymore. Mom has lots of underlying medical conditions but nothing that is flared up right now. When I was watching her sleep on Sunday, before Walt mentioned this to me, I thought she looked like Dad did before he died of Cancer. But I thought that since Mom doesn't have a fatal illness like cancer that she couldn't be dying. But I guess we don't always know everything that is going on with a person's body. She had a really good day yesterday and the nurses said she had a good day today but was worn out from a bath and physical therapy. (mild stretching to get rid of the spams from the seizures) Just eating wears her out! I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. Cyberhugs, DianeW Diane,yes, my Mom had been sick awhile. They had found a spot on her lung that was too deep to tell if it was cancer without operating and she refused to have it done. She would do good one day, then the next she would have trouble breathing just trying to sit up. Thats one reason we didnt stay with her the night she asked. We had been through it so many times. Her, really bad sick, then the next day, laughing and carrying on. So we thought, she'll be fine tomorrow. I miss her so much. She was a tough lady. Im trying myself to be strong and tough like her and in a way I am, but I dont think I could endure it like she did. I hope your Mom is doing better. You take care of yourself also. I know when Mom was sick I didnt do that and it almost got the best of me. Love and prayers, Sandy Thanks Sandy. That's exactly how it was when Dad's cancer got really bad and it was inoperable. I'm sorry you had to go thru that. I know first hand how tough it is. I didn't stay with Dad the last night either becaue I knew I just couldn't. I did stay with him many other nights when we thought that would be the night. The hospice nurse said sometimes people don't want family with them when they go. Often that's when they go. We were with him all the other times we thought that was the night but the night he goes is the one night we were not so maybe that was his decision. We said out goodbyes when we left. Mom took his wedding ring off before she left and put it around her neck. We fed him chocolate ice scream which he had ask for. He smiled and laughed but his eyes had no focus. We left for some much needed sleep around 11. The nurse called around 4am and said he had gone peacefully. Mom is sitting up and talking again today. She pushed the button to call the nurse and said she wanted back in the bed. If she continues like this tomorrow they are sending her back to the nursing home. The hospital tried to discharge her today but the dr and I both fought it. No consistancy yet in her recovery. Thanks again. DianeW You know when you said your Dad asked for ice cream, that made me remember that Mom wanted one of those nutty bars(you know with the sugar cone, topped with nuts?) She really got after it too,lol. That was the last night I talked to her. She was only 64 when she passed on. I hope things contiue to go good for you all. I think Im going to spend the weekend with my daughter and grandson. This apt. is driving me nuts,lol. I'll keep in touch with you and you do the same. Sandy {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Diane W}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Diane, Glad to hear your mom is doing a bit better, but have they ever figured out for sure what is really going on with her? Did they decide it was seizures instead of the strokes? If so, will antiseizure meds be of help to your mom? Sure hope they can find a treatment regimen that will work for her and prevent her from going through these periods she has! Take care of YOU as well and keep us posted as to how things work out! Hugs! Donna G Right now they are going with the seizures as the cause of this attack. She has had 7 "spells" like this. Two were definately strokes. There was damage that showed up on the MRI in the brain stem area. One showed closing up of the central cerebral artery in the brain (That neuro wanted to do angioplasty of that aretery - very risky and we said no). That leaves 5 other attacks of unknown reason. They have given her an EEG every time and only this time it said inconclusive. The rest were negative. But then I had 5 before it showed my seizure pattern. I had to be off certain meds and sleep deprived to get it right and that wasn't going to happen with Mom in the shape she was in. So it makes a lot of sense that they would have also been seizures. She had a UTI every time and was on abx. I'd have to pull all her records and check to see which abx she was on and if they could cause seizures. Lots of times the abx also would send her kidney function numbers sky high which can also cause meds that are filtered by the kidneys to build up in the blood stream. Those drugs that are prone to lower the seizure threshold would then cause seizures. She was already on two SSRI's.and they cause seizures to begin with. In fact, after her stroke in March (documented) she was doing better for a few weeks and then had a big setback. The rehab center said she was depressed and not cooperating any more. In fact, they had increased her zoloft twice when she got there because the psyc dr said she was depressed from her stroke. It wasn't until they reduced the zoloft that she returned to normal. At the time I ask if she could have had another stroke, it looked so similar. So maybe that was seizure activity too. Who knows. Without seeing the seizure directly, we won't really ever know for sure. I saw monoclonal jerk seizures on Sat nite - fieve of them in a row with her eyes rolling back when it was happening. Those I recognized as seizures. And her muscles were very rigid in her legs especially. Those things put together are what made the neuro suspect seizures. He put her on an anti-seizure med called Keppra. I'm not too excited about this particular med but the neuro hasn't been returning anyones calls and signed off on her case. Nice huh? I wil call Mom's regular neuro next week and see what he says. I talked to Mom on the phone today and she might be discharged. Waiting to see. DianeW Diane, Rachel takes Keppra for her temporal lobe complex partials, which it sounds like your mom might be having. Does she actually lose conciousness with them, or is it just the myoclonic jerks? Rach has had wonderful success with Keppra, but doesn't have to take anything like anti-depressants with it. Do watch for signs of over-medication such as rage outbursts or excessive sleepiness (hard to tell right now, I know). I'm glad the neuro. is taking the seizure activity seriously and I hope your mom continues to improve. Kelly C. > Right now they are going with the seizures as the cause of this attack. > She has had 7 "spells" like this. Two were definately strokes. There [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > DianeW The mnoclonal jerks were the only ones I witnessed. She had something like Todd's Parralysis afterwards. Why is the one neuro signing off? Not too fond of that guy just from what you have written here despite his findings probably being accurate. To not return calls is not acceptable. Might try telling the insurance company that he is not responsive. But maybe he wouldn't care. Duckie > The mnoclonal jerks were the only ones I witnessed. She had something > like Todd's Parralysis afterwards.  Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) Not too sure why he signed off on her. He was very unresponsive to me or the family dr's calls for that matter. The family dr wants new blood work before he will discharge her. He ordered blood work for the am and a swallow test before they will put her back on solid foods. The case manager told me yesterday that Mom didn't meet the qualifications to stay in the hospital esp after the neuro signed off. But once the family doc said no, they quit pressure to get Mom discharged. Ya know what I think? It was Friday afternoon and they were looking for beds for the weekend. Mom always goes to this hospital and it's been more than once on a Friday afternoon when they start with the "Medicare won't pay blah blah blah." I hate for her to be discharged to the nursing home after 4pm on a Friday. The regular nurse isn't there, it takes longer to get the meds from the pharmacy on the weekends, etc. But they try to push the patients out anyway. I think they just know that the er is going to be packed on the weekend and try to free up as many beds as they can. Once the dr said no yesterday, haven't heard anything about it today. So if they were that worried about Medicare paying yesterday, why not today? I think it's just a lame excuse. If I hadn't been on top of it and called the doctor with a heads up on not discharging her yet, they might have succeeded! I'm going to get in touch with her regular neuro on Monday (also mine). He doesn't go to this hospital and the one he goes to - none of her other drs go there. So we've always been ok with the on call neuro except this time. I'm going to have to request someone different the next time. Mom slept most of the day but would wake up easily and be oriented if you did. She is talking a few words replies only and her voice is very horse. Don't know why. Otherwise, ok and slowing improving. Moving arms and hands. Can push call button. That's all good. More tomorrow! ((((((((((Diane & mom))))))))))) SignatureNann remove the Gator cheer to email me Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare Thank you everyone for the wonderful well wishes and support today. Here's an update on Mom today. When we got there Mom opened her eyes and kept them open for an hour. She at, expressing her likes and dislikes with the pureed foods which looked less than appealing. She even talked a few times. She said I love you when I told her the same when I was leaving. She still is sleeping a lot and is disoriented when she first wakes up. But she seemed to follow the conversation with the nutritionist when she was there and with me when I was explaining about her meds and the seizures they think she is having. She was surprised she's been there for 6 days. Good facial expressions which showed she was following the conversation. She watched some tv today and sat in a recliner for several hours. Dr still has no clue so I guess we will just wait and see Diane W Prayers continue for you both. Duckie > Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the > day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > Cyberhugs, > Diane W. Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) Prayers and good thoughts coming your moms way and your way. I am also praying for a peaceful passing if that is the way this is going. I am praying for peace and strength for you family. You take care of you too, OK. SignatureLove and hugs to all Good thoughts coming your way too. Squirrely Jo > Yesterday when I saw Mom I was so shocked. She was even worse than the > day before! She never opened her eyes all day. And the strange thing [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > Cyberhugs, > Diane W. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.