Hospice House

Over the past few days, Mom has remained stable but has not made any huge leaps.  Because she is still bedridden and needs 24-hr skilled care, we have all decided that it isn't safe for her to go home.  Through lots of hard work by the hospital social workers and the hospice liason, she has been accepted at Hospice House.  

Located at 501 Park Street in Charlottesville and operated by Hospice of the Piedmont, this place is a lovely old Victorian home that has been recently renovated.  We were really lucky to get in here; there are only 8 beds and this is the only such facility in the county.

I talked to Mom today.  She just moved in and said that her room is lovely.  She has big windows, a nice view, and a balcony.  Sam and Juniee are going to get her computer set up so she can get online and work on her photographs.

I will soon post about visiting hours and anything else you should know if you want to go see her.

Meeting with the docs

Mom and her immediate family (Juniee, Sam, her sister Nancy, and I) met with the team of doctors who have been treating her.  They told her quite explicitly that they had no idea what had caused the coma she had been in, and they don't know why she came out of it.  

Her liver is still failing, her white blood cells and platelets are almost nonexistent, but if she continues to improve, they are willing to let her go home with the help of hospice care.

She asked if she would be able to get further chemo or an estrogen receptor blocker.  They seemed doubtful that she would ever again be in good enough condition to receive further treatment.  But they will leave that up to her regular oncologist.

She's back

Though we had a rough night, Mom is much more lucid today.  She is really awake for the first time since her admittance.  The Campbell clan and her close friends are rallying around her.  She is loving all the visitors.

Sam and I hung out with her while she ate her lunch.  She made a joke about how we had to throw out the food service bread roll because it smelled like a fart.  Sam and I looked at each other with a smile.  She's back.

We meet with the doctors tomorrow.

Long night

I just flew in and spent the night with Mom last night.  Her eyes were wide open-- a big improvement from the previous couple of days.  She seemed to know who I was and seemed to understand what I was saying, but wasn't able to communicate much herself.  She had things she desperately wanted to tell me, but she couldn't get very far with them.  She kept saying, "Can I tell you what I didn't tell you?"  And then she couldn't get any farther than that.  She just repeated that question for hours.  

Whenever I smiled at her, she gave me the biggest, sweetest smile back.  And when I cried, her eyes would well up and she would say, "Sorry."

No improvement

The doctors aren't able to remove the ammonia from her blood effectively (for reasons I won't go into right now).  She is about the same as yesterday: mostly unconscious, eyes always closed.  Responding to questions sometimes.  We're talking hours, days, maybe weeks now.  She has been moved to the Palliative Care ward.

Despite how sick she is, she is still able to eat if somebody feeds her.  If she were awake enough, I'm sure she'd be making a joke about that.  

Sam says she is mumbling things about dying.

Going to see her

I just booked a flight home for Wednesday.

Liver failure

Mom is in intensive care.  She is mostly unconscious today.  She does know who she is and who some of her visitors are, but can't really open her eyes or communicate.  She does respond to direct questions... esp. when it is to refuse whatever the nurse is asking her to do.  (We are amused to discover that she is stubborn even when barely conscious.)

The docs think that her symptoms are due to liver failure-- her blood is polluted with ammonia.  She is being treated for this now and the hope is that she will be much more lucid tomorrow or Wed.  She is also expected to receive platelets tonight or tomorrow along with a blood transfusion.

Juniee and Sam have a meeting with the doctor tomorrow to talk about prognosis and care options.

Juniee wanted me to relay to you all that the doctors don't think she has much time left; 2-6 months at the most, and that's presuming they are able to flush her system and maintain her on dialysis.

Admitted to the hospital

Mom is in the hospital today.  Last night, she got very confused and dizzy so Juniee decided he was going to have to take her to the ER.  When they were getting ready to leave, Mom started to fall and Juniee grabbed her and badly injured his back.  They were in side-by-side stretchers in the emergency room.

The doctors are not sure what is causing her symptoms.