David Brown - Home Health category

Helen suffers no more

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:28:00 GMT

I got a call about 2:52 this morning with a word from the Hospice nurse Lori that her breathing was a sign.
I woke Karl and we left for the Woodland's Healthcare Center right away
We were too late by about 5 minutes; she had passed very peacefully according to the nurse about 3:10 AM.
Karl and I stayed in the room for about an hour. I collected Karl's graduation day banner and other artifacts.
I called her best friend in Norway since childhood: Tone Lise and told her what I could about Helen's death. Tone Lise was very supportive. Tone Lise said that it was very sad (Trist) day and that she will be missed very much. Tone Lise extended her condolences to Karl and said that Karl is welcome to vist the Horpestad family in Norway.

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:40:00 GMT

We were able to pull off Karl's faux grad. ceremony today.
It was sad that Karl's highschool was not actually represented at the ceremony today.
Helen was relatively pain free today but I was not happy with the Odyssey nursing staff when the nite nurse came in and found quite a few things wrong:
- Her urine bag tube was kinked off.
- And, she had not been changed and her edema tube dressing needed to be changed.
The day nurse figured I should call Karl because her breathing was quite shallow. Kalr came a little while after but he left again.
Curiously, the nite nurse has sent me home with the reassurance that Helen should be alright for a while tonight.

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:00:00 GMT

A triage RN showed up yesterday for so-called hospice care.
Helen's condition degraded markedly after getting the phenergan medication from the first RN. She was not at all responsive.
The nurse in the first bullet was replaced by a new RN (Elizabeth) from the hospice care facility called Odyssey in Conroe.
Odyssey is in the Aetna network
The first nurse was very effective but I think she is in good hands now with the Odyssey nurses that are working 12 hour shifts.
Karl and I are back home tonight. I will be back at the Woodland's Healthcare before 8:00 AM when the 2nd nurse (Linda) is relieved.
The hope is the Odyssey staff can keep her comfortable and alert enough for Karl's graduation tomorrow.
I spent the night last night with Helen. They came in about 4:00 AM and gave her another Phenergan suppository.
She did not eat today except for a very small spoonful of yoghurt. I was able to give her some water with a straw with my finger on the end of the straw.

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:56:00 GMT

I was early for a change last night (around 6:15 PM). I stayed for a little over 3 hours.
She has grown quiet as I suspect she does not like using her voice which is very weak.
Karl visited her today and left just b4 I arrived. He bought her some BlueBell icecream cups just as I did. He did not know about the sta. #4 freezer of ice cream that I bought for her the day before.
I tried to get her to look at her Facebook wall but she was not up to it.
She had not had any nausea meds (Zofran) since noon and very little Dilaudid as well. She has been complaining of dizzyness since waking that morning.
The therapy folks had gotten her into the wheelchair and she was outside for 15 minutes or so. She complained that the Healthcare personnel were not strong enough to put her into the chair without getting somewhat rought with her. If I were there I would be able to lift her directly into the chair much easier than what the Healthcare personnel are capable of doing.
I will send an email to Kim Karnes about Helen's complaint.

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:24:00 GMT

I did not get to see Helen until after 7:30 PM (1930) because of the 3 stops to get her some ice-cream in cups and a spiral notebook.
Melissa left around 5:00 PM and messaged me.
Helen was in fairly good spirits and ate half a cup of ice-cream while I was there.
I logged into the WF site and looked at the new accounts arrangement but Helen was half-sleeping from her meds. (Big D) and was not able to look at the new banking accounts arrangement for me and Karl.
I emailed Helen's email provider yesterday about her failing health and how she is not able to see her email.
I also looked into why her Facebook Wall does not allow her to type more than one line. I suspect I won't get any help from either: Facebook or mail2world.com.
She was in considerable abdominal pain yesterday in spite of the strong narcotics. And, she reported throwing up a couple of times yesterday. It appears she has new bed clothes and is otherwise comfortable.
She also said she got some therapy yesterday and it is my goal to try and get her into the wheelchair so she can leave that room for a short period.