Thursday, Sept. 1st- Last night was kind of rough. Mom was up every hour needing water and ice. She is becoming very dehydrated as everything she takes in by mouth immediately comes out ot the peg tube. The good news is that she urinated about 5 times during the night which means she is getting some fluid. Hospice came to the house today. We learned a lot and got a lot of help. Today was the initial intake meeting, so we didnt get mych actual hands on help, but rather resources. A hospital bed and table were here within hours. Uncle David, Aunt Pat and I quickly disassembled the old bed, carried it to the basement and cleared the way for the new bed. Im so glad we got it because mom is 100% more comfotable plus it allows her to have more things within reach AND it helps keep me from breaking my back trying to change bandages, etc. Hospice deals with a certain pharmacy who delivers the rx's,.... which are FREE. We had a delivery of the pain patches (which are placed on the skin every 3 days) as well as some morphine to be used as a break-through med if additional is needed. I tried to get her to take a dose of morphine tonight to help her sleep and she refused it, saying she wasnt in that much pain.
Tim, Shelli and Timmy were here today again amd i can tell that she really enjoys their company. Quite frankly i think she gets sick of me since im heere all the time, but loves to spend time with them. Its a big help as I can get errands done during that time.
Late this afternoon I was becoming concerned as mom had not urinated since about 6 am. I called hospice to ask when the TPN (nutrition) would begin as she is rapidly becoming dehydrated. The assured me that it would start first thing in the morning. Transfusions last about 10 hrs and a nurse will come tomorrow to teach me how to hook it up, etc. I just know its going to help her tremendously. We will have an actual nurse here 3 times a week, and a home health aide anywhere from 3-5 times a week. I will still have to do a lot of stuff, but hey, thats why i took a leave of absense from work right. :) I'll update tomorrow after the visit from the hospice nurse.