Mom at Cabela's

Mom has been feeling pretty well lately. Well enough that I decided she had the stamina for a trip to Cabela's. When Mom was younger she used to love hunting and fishing. I knew she would love Cabela's and all the animals on display there.

She wasted no time walking right up to the "mountain" full of animals and checking them out.

Here she is viewing a new exhibit with prairie dogs.

Wow, there were LOTS of prairie dogs!

This little guy made us laugh.

After seeing the animals we enjoyed a nice lunch in the restaurant upstairs.

Mom said she really enjoyed her trip to Cabela's. It's a short drive from Mom's house so we will have to visit there again sometime.

Mom Slipped and Fell

Mom had another accident on Monday. She fell in the bathroom at her foot doctor's office. When she came out she had a large gash in her leg. The cut was about 6 or 7 inches long and the skin had spread over an inch. It was pretty scary looking. She didn't even know she had injured herself.

Fortunately we were at the foot doctor's office and they helped get it bandaged up so we could safely transport her to a walk-in clinic. I called her regular doctor's office but they were already booked up for the day - it was 2:30 in the afternoon.

The foot doctor was sure that she would need stitches and steri strips. When we got to the walk-in clinic they said they didn't want to do stitches because her skin is so fragile it would just tear and that would be worse. So they put something called a biocclusive dressing on it to hold it together. It's the kind of bandage that is clear like plastic but the skin can breathe through it. They said it should hold the wound together until it starts healing on its own, and in a few days it would probably come off by itself. But they recommended she be seen in 2 or 3 days to check for potential infection.

I made her an appointment with someone at her doctor's office on Wednesday. On Tuesday morning she called Diega and said her leg had bled and the bandage was getting loose and ready to come off. She wanted Diega to change the bandage for her. Instead I called her doctor's office. They said it sounded like she just needed the dressing changed and Diega could bring her in for a nurse to do that. I made the appointment.

When Diega took Mom in to see the nurse they found that her leg had already started an infection. Her skin was red around the wound indicating infection under the skin. A nurse practitioner prescribed antibiotics. They changed her dressing to something more conventional - a nonadhesive pad with gauze around. Diega would have to change the dressing the next morning (Wednesday) and then on Wednesday afternoon I went to Olympia and took Mom to see the doctor. Diega came too and was able to give more information about how the wound looked the day before than I could since I didn't see it on Tuesday.

The doctor had the same nurse who had seen it the day before take another look. The nurse and Diega agreed that it looked worse. The red area had widened and it now felt hot to the touch. The doctor decided not to change the antibiotics because Mom had less than a day's worth of dose in her and we needed to see if this antibiotic would do the trick.

Diega changed the dressing this morning and my brother-in-law took Mom back to the nurse. Both Diega and the nurse agreed Mom's leg is looking much better. It is no longer hot to the touch and the red area has receded. Yay, the antibiotics are working.

I talked to Mom's neighbor Susan and she graciously agreed to change my mother's dressing each day while her leg gets better. I cannot express how grateful I and my family are that Susan is willing to help in this way. You just don't find such good neighbors every day. Thank you Susan!!

Did I take pictures? You bet. I took a couple photos on Wednesday at the doctor's office while the bandage was off. I wanted something for comparison in case her leg appeared to get worse. I didn't embed the photos here because I know some are squeamish. If you would like to see them the photos are here and here. The first picture is of the actual wound where it was cut. The second photo is of the back side of her leg where the redness was wrapping around.

Let's hope Mom's leg continues to heal and that she can keep from falling any more!

Like Mother Like Daughter

Last Thursday night I had a bit of a mishap on my way home. It was about 8:45 at night and I had just gotten off the bus at the local park and ride. The Northgate Park and Ride has a walking path down the center that is lined with trees and has tree roots pushing up the sidewalk in quite a few places.

I was in a hurry to get to my car and get home and carrying my heavy purse and tote bag. Sure enough, my left foot tripped on the pavement where a tree root had pushed it up. I was afraid I was going to fall but then felt I could catch myself first by getting my right foot under me quickly.

Unfortunately the path for my right foot was blocked by another tree root. Down I went. I fell forward with my arms mostly outstretched. I landed on my knees and base of my hands, jamming my left shoulder and left wrist. My body hit the ground pretty hard.

When you fall suddenly like that it takes a couple minutes before you know if anything is broken or if you will be able to get up. I was eager to get up as quickly as I could to head for the safety of my car. It was dark out and I didn't know what nefarious types might be wandering about. But I had to take a couple minutes for the shock to wear off and pain to subside.

In that couple minutes before I knew the extent of my injuries my first thought was "if I'm broken or unable to get up, how will I get home?" followed quickly by "if I am seriously injured how will I take care of my mother??" Fortunately, these thoughts were short-lived because I was able to get up (albeit slowly) a couple minutes later.

I was pretty shaken up but not seriously injured. I had new empathy for what my mother probably went through in her last fall. It's scary. You feel suddenly helpless and vulnerable.

I got myself to my car and called Walter to let him know what had happened and that I would be home soon. Over the next couple days I came to realize the full extent of my injuries - soft tissue ones for the most part. My shoulder still bothers me if I raise it above my head. I slightly bruised my lower ribs on the left side and my tummy is quite black and blue. And then there's the sore muscles: arms, neck, sides, back and abdominals. I'm healing up really quickly and none of my injuries are obvious from the outside. In a few days I will be good as new. I'm feeling grateful to be in one piece.

I love sharing things with my mother but falling is not something I care to repeat. When I told my sister Diega about it she told me she fell a few days ago - also with minor injuries. When noticing my sore body this morning I asked Walter to remind me not to fall any more. He said "consider yourself reminded - for the rest of your life."

As for my mother's last fall she's still in a fair amount of pain when she walks. We head back to the doctor's office tomorrow provided snow doesn't stop me from getting to Olympia.

Mom Took a Tumble

My Mom had been doing pretty well until last Wednesday. Her energy was increasing and she was feeling a bit more energetic with each passing week. The only remaining issue I was worried about was her underweight problem. She doesn't eat enough and is having a hard time gaining weight back after losing so much to pain medication that made her nauseous. At her last appointment she weighed in at 88 pounds. Since her back surgery she has not needed the awful pain medication and I had hopes she would start regaining some weight. But progress on this front is very slow. In other respects she has been pretty healthy. As I said, until Wednesday...

Mom uses a walker to navigate around her home and she does quite well with it. When we take her out to the store or doctor appointments she has been using a cane with some extra support of either my hand on the other side or leaning on the edges of countertops or grocery store carts. She can go a short distance on her own with her cane but not too far. For that reason she is not supposed to leave her house to go down the driveway and get her own mail at the street. She waits for Tyler next door to bring her mail.

Of course sometimes she gets impatient, and she has been feeling more energetic. A couple weeks ago she told me she was going to try and get her own mail. I asked her not to do that because it's too far for her to be walking on her own with just the cane. She told me "I think I can make it!" That was not confidence inspiring to me and I reiterated that I wanted her to wait for the neighbors to bring the mail.

Last Tuesday Mom was done being patient and she went out to get her own mail. She knew I would not approve so she did not tell me she did that. On Tuesday she was successful getting out to the mailbox and back and into the house on her own. On Wednesday she was not successful. After she got her mail on Wednesday she returned to the house only to fall on the top of the two small steps before reaching her front door.

When I called her late Wednesday afternoon (as I do every afternoon) I asked how her day was. She told me everything was just fine. I happened to ask if she got her mail okay (meaning did the neighbors get it to you). She said "Yes, I got it." Then she paused. And she said "I went out and got it myself." What?!! I became alarmed. I asked "Mom, was that a good idea??" She said "Well no, because I fell." WHAT?!!

She told me that she fell hard on her left side and she was afraid that she had broken her hip. Mom has no fat padding her bones and I think her left hip hit the corner of the cement step pretty hard. She told me she was sure now that she had not broken the hip because she could walk around on it okay. She also skinned up her knee and elbow pretty good. I made her an appointment to get checked out at the doctor's office on Monday (yesterday).

By Monday she said her hip was hurting more and her left leg was quite painful to step on. It's really hard to judge how injured someone is by what they say on the telephone. When I saw her move I realized this was not just a little bump. She was having a difficult time moving around.

The doctor's office took x-rays and today we received the result that her hip is not broken. Of course x-rays sometimes do not show everything. If none of her bones are broken she should start feeling better soon. We will give her a few days to start getting better, but if it's not better by next week I will have to take her back to the doctor for further tests. We can't have this getting worse because Mom can't take any pain medication stronger than Tylenol without some dire consequence.

We're sure hoping this is a temporary setback and Mom can once again make a turnaround in the direction of health. In the meantime, she has promised to wait for the mail to be delivered by the neighbors from now on. I sure hope she does!

Mom at the Foot Doctor's

A week or so ago Mom had her regular appointment with the foot doctor. When she arrives in the treatment room she removes her socks and shoes then gets into the recliner where they will work on her feet.

After she got in the chair I noticed how she had hung her purse on her cane and her shoes and socks were waiting nearby. Everything looked so tidy. It occurred to me that would make a good photo so I got out my camera. While I had my camera out I also took a picture of Mom in the chair waiting to have her feet examined and worked on. I thought I would share these pics with you.

Pre-Christmas Gathering

Since our family is not able to get together on Christmas Day we gathered on Sunday the 23rd instead. It's not often that I and my two sisters get together all at the same time as everyone lives in different parts of the state. Of course our meeting place was at Mom's house in Lacey. It was great to see everyone.

My nephew DJ took this photo of Walter, me, Diega, Jozi and Mom. If you would like to see some of the other photos taken that day click on the picture and use the Next and Prev links to navigate the album.

Trip to Oly on Monday

Our trip to Olympia on Monday was a bit of an adventure as that was the day the local storm was in full force. Driving down we experienced lots of rain and wind. The experience involved a bit of white knuckle driving as we made our way down I-5 through low spots full of standing water, rooster tails that surprised us by covering the windshield beyond visibility, and winds that pushed the car to and fro. We were thankful that the new Honda has new tires on it so we didn't have to worry about hydroplaning as much as we would have with the Saturn. On the other hand, it has a higher profile than the Saturn so we felt buffeted by the winds a bit more.

We made it to Olympia safely though, and were happy to discover that Mom's power had returned the evening before. We picked her up from Sue's house and took her off to her doctor appointments. By the time we left at the end of the day the storm was subsiding and fortunately Mom's power was still on. We left her at her home secure in the knowledge that she would be safe and plenty warm.

Mom's appointments went fine. Yesterday she went back to the eyelid surgeon for a follow-up and he said everything looks great. If you look closely at this photo you will see that she has a bit of a shiner under her right eye. That's from the surgery, I promise. No one popped her. :)

Mom and Diega Doing Well

Mom had her lower right eyelid surgery on Tuesday. It went really well (the procedure took only about 15 minutes). This is a picture of her in the recovery bed and she got to go home shortly after this photo was taken. The nurses thought she looked pretty cute with her white eye patch. They told her the white eye patch means she's a GOOD pirate!

Once the patch was removed the area looks great - just like she has a black eye. Her surgeon did a good job at tightening up the lower lid so she should no longer have a problem with constant eye infections.

Diega is doing well too. She got to go home from the hospital on Thursday. She's in a fair amount of pain yet but getting a little better each day. She's gradually adding more solid foods each day - today she had crackers in her soup and some applesauce.

We're all glad that everybody is on the mend. Thanks to everyone who sent their prayers and well wishes our way.

Windstorm Monday in Olympia

I've been slow to post any updates lately. Seems like life is always hectic. Monday was our regular day to go to Olympia and help Mom. She had a doctor appointment that day. What was unusual is that there was also quite a windstorm which struck with particular ferocity in Thurston County where she lives. When we got there we were greeted by limbs strewn about her yard and driveway.

Here are some of the trees next to Mom's driveway that caused all the debris.

Mom's power was out. That didn't stop us from taking her to her doctor's appointment though ... where the power was also out! Fortunately for us they were still open for business but the doctor didn't have access to the chart notes on his computer. Also the lab was closed because they couldn't see well enough to take blood.

When we got back from doctor appointments the power was back on. Yay! Mom's neighbor buddy Tyler came over to check on her.


How's she doing? Well as you can see she needs to eat more. But other than that she's doing okay. On Monday we meet with the folks from the Meals on Wheels program. I hope that will work well and help her to gain some weight.

Mom Hardly Eating

My mother has recovered from her illness but she continues to lose weight. She was last weighed at 85 pounds (38.5 kilos). Compared to most people she eats like a bird. This is a woman who earlier this year weighed 125 pounds. She was on the pain killers which caused nausea for so long she forgot how to eat like a normal person and her taste buds are all messed up.

We are trying lots of things to try to help her eat more. She told me the other day that she is not ready to give up yet because she has her girls (us daughters). She's really trying to eat more but so far is not very successful.

She goes back to the doctor tomorrow. I hope something works soon. She is so thin now she is constantly tired and spends much of her time in bed. I'm very worried about her.

Bunch of Updates

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. Most of it is family medical stuff so I will try to catch you up in this one post.

Walter's Eye Surgery
Walter is doing well after his surgery. Everything went fine and we're just waiting to see how the eyesight will settle. Right now it's in some ways a little better than before the surgery (but not as good as a few weeks ago) and in other ways it's not so good. It takes a while to heal so we will be patient and wait to see what happens. The good news is that Walter's eye pressure came down to a very reasonable number and hopefully it will stay down for a long time. Many times after a surgery like this there are small adjustments to be made including which eyedrops to take, but we'll get that all sorted out.

Mom's Kyphoplasty
My mom's surgery went very well. And the best thing is it greatly reduced her pain. We are very thankful for that. Unfortunately she wasn't able to eat for weeks before the surgery due to pain and pain meds. When they weighed her in pre-op we found out she was down to 93 pounds. Gaining weight is going to be a high priority for her.

Now Mom's Sick
Two days after Mom's surgery she came down with a horrible diarrhea problem and has been sick for 3 days. She's been to the emergency room twice and was given IV fluids. The doctors think it's some kind of gastroenteritis. She has an appointment with her main doctor tomorrow so we'll find out what he has to say. In the meantime the problem seems to be slowing down. Hopefully it's about over.

It's frustrating because the first thing they say for diarrhea is to stop eating solid foods. She's not going to gain any weight that way. Poor Mom, she's getting pretty frustrated and discouraged with her health issues. We hope something will turn around for her very soon.

And Then There's Diega
At 5:00 this afternoon I got a call from my sister Diega. She was headed into emergency surgery for appendicitis. Diega has been having abdominal pain for a few days. She went to the doctor today and they found out it was her appendix. I'm told they will do the procedure laparoscopically and she should be able to go home tomorrow.


Amongst all the bad news there are some blessings to count. For example I'm really glad that Mom's back is feeling better and that she didn't get this gastroenteritis thing while she was still having intense back pain. And of course there's my own health to be thankful for...

Surgeries Stacked Up

Well it's official. Walter's glaucoma surgery (a valve implant) will take place tomorrow afternoon at Swedish here in Seattle and my mom's surgery will be on Thursday afternoon at St. Peter's Hospital in Olympia. Walter goes in Thursday morning to have his eye patch removed and probably get some external stitches out. After I take him home from that appointment its back to Olympia for Mom's surgery. Mom will stay in the hospital until about noon Friday and then I will stay with her for 24 hours after that.

Hopefully by the end of the week everybody will be all fixed up and doing well. I will try to post an update on Sunday.

Haircut for Mom

My mom continues to have a tough time with pain.

Last week there were just a couple days she was feeling better and her pain let up so she was able to be up and active for a portion of the day. In fact she was feeling well enough that she had my sister Jozi take her out to get her hair cut.

I just had to take a picture of her in her new hair cut and with a big smile on her place. She's pretty cute.

The pain has gotten bad again though so she's been staying in bed as much as possible. Tomorrow is her appointment with the specialist so hopefully they will schedule her kyphoplasty soon.

Kyphoplasty

An MRI earlier last Tuesday showed that Mom has a number of reasons to have all this back pain, not the least of which is a compression fracture in her lower back.

When a compression fracture occurs the spine collapses a bit and the space between the discs becomes smaller, pinching nerves and causing pain. After consulting with some specialists Mom's doctor got her referred to someone who will do a procedure called a Kyphoplasty. There will be two injections done on either side of the spine where the fracture is. Tiny balloons are inserted into each site and inflated to increase the space between the discs. The balloons then come out and cement is injected in their place permanently restoring the height of the vertebra.

The scheduler for this procedure pointed me to an excellent video showing how this procedure works. To see it go to this page and click I Agree, then click on the "See Narrated Animation" link.

The procedure will be done under general anesthesia and will require one night's stay in the hospital. According to Mom's regular doctor they may do an epidural injection of numbing medicine for her at the same time. I am told that Kyphoplasty has a really good success rate for providing relief of the sharpest pain from a fracture. There will probably remain some residual pain from all the muscle trauma, but they will have physical therapy help her with that.

The bad news is that the only doctor in Olympia who does this procedure is out of the office next week. The soonest we can go in for the consultation is October 30. I'm not sure how soon after that we will be able to schedule the procedure.

In the meantime Mom is on two strong pain medications and still in pain. I am optimistic that the Kyphoplasty will provide some relief for Mom. I just hope she can hold out until the doctor can do it.

Mom is Bedridden

My mom is pretty much bedridden with her pain now. Since Friday she has had to stay in bed for most of each day. She gets up to use the bathroom, eat some small meals and take her medications. She is always eager to get back to her bed because the pain is not under control.

The epidural that was suggested last week went by the wayside when they decided they needed to get an MRI first. Today was her MRI. Tomorrow she goes back to the doctor. He may or may not have the MRI results by the time she seems him, we'll see.

An epidural injection is still a possibility I think provided the MRI doesn't show something unexpected. The difficulty with getting that done earlier was finding who was the right doctor who could refer her for it. They tried referring her to a neurosurgeon and turns out the neurosurgeon doesn't want to see her unless she's a surgical candidate. So they need to find someone else. All the while time is passing.

Mom's doctor is one of the most senior doctors there so hopefully he will know who to send her to if he agrees that an epidural is a good idea. In any case she needs some different treatment from what they have tried so far. Her current treatment is not WORKING.

As Mom put it today "I hope they figure out what's wrong because I'm ready to have this torture over with."

Mom Still in Pain

My Mom is still having a very difficult time of it. The pain medications are just not helping enough and now she is taking medications to combat the effects of the pain medication. She has had several tests including x-rays which did not show a fracture. But she has severe degenerative disc disease and that contributes to this big muscle spasm she's experiencing.

At the last appointment they said they were going to refer her to someone who could give her an epidural injection. There were problems with that referral (somehow I got a call from a neurosurgeon) and now the primary doctor thinks there must be some other reason the pain is not getting better. Like perhaps a fracture that does not show up on an x-ray. So they want to do an MRI as the next step. Great idea, except that I couldn't get them to schedule an MRI before next Tuesday and today Mom says her pain is getting worse. Aargh!!

An occupational therapist visited Mom today and he agrees that she needs something done quickly. He's going to talk to a visiting nurse and see if they can pull some strings to get the MRI done sooner. I sure hope something works soon. No one should have to live their life in that much pain.

Quiet on the Blog

It's been quiet here because things have been hectic in life. Mom saw doctors on Monday and Tuesday and she's still feeling pretty bad. Her back is killing her and her pain medication makes her too nauseous to eat much of anything although she is hungry. At my request doctors ordered new medications today. They took x-rays of her back and she doesn't have a fracture. Physical therapy will visit tomorrow and hopefully they can try some back massage. I sure hope something works for her soon. No one should be in constant pain like that.

Setback for Mom

Mom hasn't been feeling too well the last few days. She has had some back pain which became pretty significant by the end of last week. On Friday morning she wasn't able to keep her breakfast down. I took her to a doctor where they told us she should take Vicodin for the pain but there wasn't much else they could do for it because she has degenerative disc disease and spurs that come out from her spine which will sometimes cause pain like this.

What the doctor didn't address was her inability to keep food in her stomach. That has continued through the weekend and today was the first time she could eat anything without it coming right back up. I was going to take her to the emergency room but when I called her this afternoon she said she is feeling better after reducing the pain pill to 1/2 pill at a time. So far today she has not thrown up. I'm going to check on her after she eats some dinner and if she can't keep it down will take her to the ER tonight. Otherwise I plan to call and get her in to see a doctor tomorrow.

A Whirlwind of Appointments

Whew, what a crazy week. It occurs to me that as of tomorrow I will have accompanied Mom and Walter on medical appointments every day for a week except for Sunday. The schedule went something like this:

• Friday - Walter appointment with eye surgeon (cornea specialist)
• Saturday - Mom had to go to the eye doctor for her eye infection
• Monday - Mom's follow-up appointment with the eye doctor
• Tuesday - Mom's appointment with her primary care doctor
• Wednesday - Walter's appointment with glaucoma specialist
• Thursday - Mom appointment with primary care doctor about a new issue. She needs a test and consultation.

The upshot of all these appointments is everybody's pretty much doing okay. Mom's eye infection is much improved although she will be on antibiotics for a while and we're keeping an "eye" on it. She had a good visit with her primary doctor but a couple (hopefully minor) new issues have come up and she needs to see him again tomorrow.

Walter's sight has been slowly improving and seems almost back to where it was before August 1. The glaucoma specialist is changing up his medications in an attempt to bring his eye pressure into normal range. The goal is to avoid long-term sight decline and maybe even have a potential for more sight improvement.

I think we're all hoping that things slow down a bit and everybody stays healthy. Everyone has been very understanding and we appreciate all the well wishes we've received from our friends.

A Tale of Two Eye Appointments

Well it's official. Mom has a raging eye infection. When we saw the doctor on Saturday morning he drained the area as best he could and put her on antibiotic pills and drops. If it's not better by tomorrow she will have to see an ophthalmologist, but she tells me by phone that it is indeed getting better. Whew. She goes back for a follow-up appointment first thing tomorrow morning.

Walter's appointment on Friday went okay. No change on the eyesight. His eye pressure has been moderately high for a while so his doctor wants him to see a glaucoma specialist again to see if there is anything more that can be done to bring down the pressure safely. He already takes 3 eyedrop medications for glaucoma. He has an appointment on Wednesday and then goes back to his regular doctor (cornea specialist) three weeks later.