Meeting Mistyby Angie
21 Feb 2014
5:02 pm0
A lot has happened in a couple of hours! We had a visit from Misty, an RN with Gentiva Hospice, who examined Mom and did an evaluation and then went over lots of paperwork with Dad. The weekend nurse will be in tomorrow for a follow-up, and then we have set up some basic routine care a couple of times a week and have ordered a wheelchair, shower bench, and other supplies.
Misty will be our regular nurse and case manager – she was very sweet and helpful, and even left her cell phone number so we could call or text her anytime we need to. The consensus around here is that we have a good feeling about this and that it’s definitely time to have the support and advice that hospice can offer.
One service that Gentiva offers is grief counseling for close family, even if you don’t live nearby. Since someone has already expressed a possible need for that, I asked about whether that could be arranged over the phone. Phone counseling can be arranged, but I learned that, because Gentiva has branches all over the country, anyone on their Bereavement List can make an appointment and be seen in person if they have a local branch nearby. Jim did some research and found locations in CA, OR, and MA (not HI – sorry!). Counseling can begin at any time now that Mom is receiving care, and is covered under the hospice services for 13 months following her passing. If any of you in our family feel a need to utilize this, please feel free to talk to Dad and he can have Misty get you listed.
Mom is smiling and peaceful, and ever so obliging. It is certainly a blessing that her wonderful personality has been distilled down to such a simple example of who she truly is: a cheerful, loving, grateful daughter of God. We all love her very much, and her love for us is still constant and strong. She called her children her crown jewels, and she is truly the burnished gold that holds us all together.
A Mid-day Updateby Angie
21 Feb 2014
12:02 pm0
Mom is very peaceful and quiet – more so than a few days ago, I think. She curled up with Dad on the couch for quite a while yesterday, and we’ve been having a difficult time uncurling her since then – she continues to lean way to the right. She has seemed almost sleepy much of the day, but “Smiles for Life” made her smile again last night, and she even tapped her toes to the music.
Rachel and I have been writing in Mom’s new journal. I’ll pick a designated place to leave it, so whenever someone is visiting they can add to it, too.
Yesterday I helped with some phone calls and visited a couple of hospice agencies. Today we got the ball rolling with Gentiva Hospice, and they should be sending out an RN to do a preliminary evaluation today if they can get the referral from Dr. Curtis processed within the next few hours.
Pam and Tom Dozier arrived last night, and it’s so wonderful to have them here. Rachel went home early this morning. We’ve watched some Olympics and Studio C, and then we took Mom out into the beautiful sunshine for her exercising. Pam is helping her eat lunch now. I’m sure we’ll have more to add in a bit.
Follow-upby Jim
9 Dec 2013
8:12 pm3
We just got back from the hospital and Angie’s follow-up appointment. I dropped her off and she went in to get her labs drawn and chest x-ray. After that, we went upstairs to see the doctor. They started with vitals and an EKG. The EKG was a little hard to read because Angie’s heart rate was a little high, so the doctor wanted Angie to go have her pacemaker interrogated at the children’s hospital across the street. They showed us the x-ray and her lungs look much better. The fluid is nearly all gone, thanks to the increased diuretic Angie has been on. Because the image looked so good, they decided to dial down her dosage, which we’re grateful for. Before we left, Dr. Lui talked to us about a new drug he’d like to put Angie on. It is a vasodialator that should help with her pulmonary pressure. That will (hopefully) decrease the fluid build-up and a nice side effect is increased oxygen saturation levels. There are risks, as with any medication, so we went over those. He’s very hopeful that this drug will really help Angie get back to normal.
After our chat, we walked over to Lucile Packard’s and did the interrogation. Being a children’s hospital, the pacemaker interrogator has a little turtle covering. It’s very cute. We were thrilled to find out that Angie is not in arrhythmia! Hooray! She did have an episode of arrhythmia a few days ago, but it lasted only 11 seconds, so it didn’t worry them too much. If it keeps recurring, I’m sure it will worry them, but for today, she’s in great shape. With that great news, they bid us goodbye and let us go to fight commuter traffic on our way home.
We are also very excited to hear that my sister-in-law, Kelly, is cancer-free! She went in for surgery last week and today we learned that the doctors found no trace of cancer in her body. We’re so happy for you, Kelly!
We were so excited about the news of the day that we decided to celebrate by going to Angie’s favorite restaurant in Livermore, which is right of the freeway on the way home. Thank you all for your love, support, prayers, good thoughts, words of encouragement, and everything you’ve done to help us over the last few months. We couldn’t have gotten through without you!
Going Homeby Jim
3 Dec 2013
7:12 pm2
We just received our discharge instructions and I’m walking out to get the car now. Angie was a little slow waking up, so they kept her in recovery longer than usual. We’re quite happy wet get to go home tonight. We have a return checkup on Monday to make sure everything is still okay. Thanks for your love and support today!
All Doneby Jim
3 Dec 2013
2:12 pm1
The doctors just finished chatting with me and Angie is all done. The cardioversion went fine; they pumped 100 Joules through her chest. It worked on the first try, otherwise they’d have cranked it up to 200. I asked the electrophysiologist how many volts that works out to be, but he didn’t know. He showed me the impedance from the printout and was curious to know if I could work it out. Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me how long the pulse was, so I can’t figure it out yet. I’ll try and ask for it later.
The transesophogeal echocardiogram didn’t find any clots, including the one they saw a month ago, which is great news. They did, however, see a pleural effusion in her lung. This is most likely the same effusion that she’s had since our last stay. The bad news is that it hasn’t dissolved on its own. I don’t think it will be a big deal, but they ordered a chest x-ray just to make sure.
The other good news is the doctors said they intend on sending her home tonight! I was glad to hear that. She’s recovering right now. I’ll try and post again after I’ve seen her. I don’t know how long they’ll want to observe her here at the hospital, but I’m sure we’ll end up having to fight traffic again on our way home 😉
The Procedureby Jim
3 Dec 2013
1:12 pm0
They’ve taken her back to get started. It should be a quick one.
Back at the Hospitalby Jim
3 Dec 2013
9:12 am2
We’re back at Stanford for the cardioversion. We were supposed to check in at 9, so we got up early and braved the commuter traffic this morning. We made good time and arrived a bit early. It is really hard to gauge what it will be likein the mornings.
So, today’s schedule includes a transesophogeal echocardiogram to check for clots and then a cardioversion (electric shock to get the heart out off arrhythmia). Normally this is just a same-day procedure, but with Angie’s history I anticipate that we’ll be staying for observation for at least a day, maybe two.
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Thanks!