Mom at Shands, 21 Oct

Hi, All! Things were going pretty well until about 2 am this morning. The fluid from the chest tube was no longer pinkish and they installed a new container and took away the old one with 2000 ml of fluid. Mom's vitals were encouraging. They turned Mom on to her left side to head off any developing bed sores. Then Mom started moaning quite loudly saying that she was hurting all over. The nurse gave her some morphine by injection. Her heart rate spiked and hovered around 160 setting off warning beeps in the monitor. After five or six rounds of beeps the nursing staff decided to call the resident on duty. He came and ordered pressure feeding of 500 ml of saline to bring down the heart rate and a drug to raise the blood pressure. The second and third 500 ml didn't seem to improve matters. The doctor warned that too much saline would cause Mom to drown. We decided not to push things. Keeng asked Mom if she wanted to see the children and grandchildren. After a while she nodded. I called Ruth and went downstairs to talk to Security. The west waiting room had been unlocked earlier for another family. The nursing staff decided that we could cram eleven people in the private room when the others arrived at about 3:30. They then left us alone. Mom's heart rate stabilized at 139. I went out to consult the resident. He said that 139 was too high and Mom's blood pressure was still dropping. However, a little after five the heart rate dropped down to the 80s. At 6:15 when they came to take the blood pressure it was 120/75 at 72 beats per minute. Dr Vu came around 10 am. He said the turning could have caused some pain which could trigger the rapid heart rate. Turning is not absolutely necessary. He would order a long lasting painkiller since morphine is generally good for only two hours. The procedure with the talcum powder is still set for Monday. Mom's BP was a little on the high side at noon. They cleaned Mom up. Sue came from Community Hospice to say that we could move Mom over any time. She confirmed that hospice care wouldn't include what Mom received this morning. They don't do IV. When Ruth arrived this afternoon Mom was apologetic saying that she hadn't been having enough sleep. Keeng gave Mom some Xango with water several times in the afternoon. Dr Vu came again at 3:30. He said that Mom's vitals signs are good. When Ing and I arrived this evening Mom waved. After watching me standing at the foot of the bed for a while she asked me, in Malay, to sit down. Ing and I have given Mom some Ensure. She sipped it through a straw. Mom has been awake most of the evening. I showed her some pictures on Ing's laptop. She said that Ruth's picture of her church Women's group as a bunch of old people which was quite true because of the white and blond hairs. She misidentified one of the people in one of the pictures and started talking her friend's husband. He died and everyone wore red. Take care. Love, jonah