Grandma was moved back to the hospital today. This morning the nursing home called and said they were having Grandma taken to the ER because she had shortness of breath and the swelling she had on her right side was now covering her entire body. After spending a few hours in the ER the Drs decided to admit her with Congestive Heart Failure and do some tests to rule out a heart attack.
I went to see her this afternoon and had a chance to talk to her Dr. about what the next steps were going to be. He showed me come pictures of her heart and lungs and explained that the years she has spent in bed has really taken a toll on her lungs. Her lungs are working at about 50% which explains the shortness of breath. Her heart has about 39% functioning muscle left. The swelling she is having is caused by her blood not holding in protein so fluid is leaking out into her tissue. To give you an idea of how much swelling she has...on March 14th the hospital weighed her and she was 128lbs. Today she was weighed again and is 197lbs. That is ALL fluid. So the Drs. have basically said there isn't really anything they can do for her and are recommending she come come on hospice for comfort care.
GOOD NEWS - She will most likely be coming home in the next day or two. Whether or not that is on hospice, we don't know. But we do know she will NOT be going back to a nursing home. When I was with Grandma today she looked really good. She chatted with me for about 45 minutes, took a nap, woke up so I could feed her dinner, took a nap and woke up to chat a little more.
I went to see her this afternoon and had a chance to talk to her Dr. about what the next steps were going to be. He showed me come pictures of her heart and lungs and explained that the years she has spent in bed has really taken a toll on her lungs. Her lungs are working at about 50% which explains the shortness of breath. Her heart has about 39% functioning muscle left. The swelling she is having is caused by her blood not holding in protein so fluid is leaking out into her tissue. To give you an idea of how much swelling she has...on March 14th the hospital weighed her and she was 128lbs. Today she was weighed again and is 197lbs. That is ALL fluid. So the Drs. have basically said there isn't really anything they can do for her and are recommending she come come on hospice for comfort care.
GOOD NEWS - She will most likely be coming home in the next day or two. Whether or not that is on hospice, we don't know. But we do know she will NOT be going back to a nursing home. When I was with Grandma today she looked really good. She chatted with me for about 45 minutes, took a nap, woke up so I could feed her dinner, took a nap and woke up to chat a little more.
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