Update on My Mom

Today is Sunday 09/10/2017.  My mom is having a good but quiet day. I am having a good but quiet day. Many of the past days have not been good or quiet. First of all, C-diff.... Oh NASTY NASTY bacteria!!!! And very contagious although, miraculously, neither Bruce nor I have succumbed. And I wasn't wearing gloves for the first bit of it. C-diff causes terrible, incredibly stinky diarrhea where the sufferer has no control whatsoever. We went to a three part washing system. An outside squirt off, followed by 2 runs through the washer in hot water with bleach. C-diff can live on surfaces for 90 days. Alcohol will not kill it. It laughs at hand sanitizer. Hot water and soap dilutes it to something that may be innocuous. Only bleach kills it. When I got the diagnosis I was required to call my mom's home health care service and her primary Dr's office. People in contact with her wear protective clothing. Now, my mom is at this point dialysis dependent. She is not passing any urine. She would die without dialysis. So I have to take her and she is on the machine for at least 3 hours and 15 minutes, plus travel time. I've felt so badly for her! Everything is covered with chux. There was no stopping the virulent diarrhea. You could smell her from a great distance and I couldn't change her till I got her home. Before I learned about barrier cream I was worried she'd end up in the hospital just from sitting in the irritating mess. It was awful. Of course she's been dehydrated. Most people have fluid removed during dialysis, my mom has been getting fluids. And she lost a lot of weight. Most diabetics have a strict diet with little carbs or potassium. I've been told to feed her whatever she will eat. But C-diff also kills your appetite. She doesn't want to eat. Even though we are almost done with a 2 week course of very strong antibiotics 3 times a day (which have been effective as far as I can tell) she still doesn't want to eat or drink much. And she's supposed to have potassium, so I am begging her to eat foods she used to like, like avocado or bananas. She isn't hungry. Her Dr gave her Marinol (synthetic THC) to quell nausea (she's had nausea badly) and to stimulate her appetite and it seems to have helped for the nausea but hasn't had much effect on appetite. I wonder if natural cannabis would be better. Her Dr wouldn't say so directly but he did say there is a dispensary in nearby Mesquite NV where marijuana is legal. I think about going.

I'm still shocked at my mom's loss of functions. She's still mentally all there but she is losing physical abilities so fast it makes my head spin. She can't stand alone. Her physical therapist, who I really like because he can motivate her to do things I cannot suggested she have a medical recliner so that she would not be laying down all the time. Her oxygen level is in the 82-85 range which is not good. Sitting up, even in a recliner would help. She has used it twice and once was briefly. He tried to get her to stand and march in place Friday. She could only stand for about 45 seconds and forget marching. This was with him spotting her. Some of the CNAs who come to shower her don't seem to realize that she can't stand or walk. The one who came Friday did not call beforehand and I had waited till 4 before I assumed no one was coming and went out to do errands. That was a horrorshow. One of the CNAs, Melissa is good with her. Takes her time. Puts lotion on my mom. Sanitizes the shower after and dries my mom's hair. Makes good and sure the site on her chest where her catheter is won't get wet. the oe on Friday did none of this.

My mom has remained grateful and funny and uncomplaining though I wish she would tell me more about how she feels so I can maybe do something about it. Some days she is so weak and tired she doesn't want to go to dialysis and I have to stress to her that not going is not an option unless she is ready for hospice. She tries so hard to cooperate. It's heartbreaking.

She really likes the flannel shirts Bruce donated to her cause. Dialysis makes you cold and she is under heaped blankets at home even when it's over 100 degrees outside. I bought her some new flannel shirts and she likes those. I also got her and electric throw to use at dialysis but she wont use it because she's afraid of a bout of diarrhea. Fortunately she hasn't had that happen for awhile thanks to the antibiotics. I can usually get her home before she has to go and it's much less smelly and of a better consistency. I'll have to take another stool sample in to see if the bacteria is eradicated, it might not be even after the two weeks  in which case the Dr will either up the strength or go to an even stronger antibiotic. It can also come back. Nasty bug!!!!!

I feel like my mom is tolerating the dialysis better. it doesn't wipe her out as much as it used to. But I am still very concerned about how she sees her quality of life.

She's still very funny. We've been having work done on the house and the other day I told her that Bruce has been working his ass off. Without pause, she retorted, "What ass?" I had to tell him my mom is scoping out his ass.