On The Road Again

Aloma/Mom/Grandma was able to go home today!
While at Burns Manor she received wonderful care with regular bathing, three meals a day and exercise therapy. But it is also good to be home and in familiar surroundings. ConnectCare will now come to the house once or twice a week. They will help her to bathe and clean up. It sounds like they will also continue to do some exercise therapy with her as well. This will be very good for her mobility. Now that her body is no longer fighting with infections (bladder infections and shingles) and the pain is so much better or nearly gone she is feeling tons better. Just that alone also allows her to be more mobile under her own power.

She's a tough one. With the right care it's amazing what the body can do.

Love and Hugs to all.

A quick update from Patsy...

The visit with mom today, February 24, was short but good. Supper was about to be served. We visited in a sun filled sitting room. Along came Selma, a resident, rolling her wheelchair with her feet. She asked, "did my company leave"? I replied,"probably." I brought her wheelchair closer to us and included her in the conversation. Before we left we pushed mom and Selma to a dinning table. Mom's glow has returned.


Good, good stuff!

She's On The Move Again

This week has been another busy week for Aloma. On Monday, February 20 she moved to the new Burns Manor in Hutchinson. The new facility is reportedly quite nice, hotel-like I've heard. She has been getting settled in. Her granddaughter, Tracie and her husband Jay brought her a TV the other day along with a blanket that Tracie made for her and get well card made by Jay and Tracie's daughter (Aloma's great granddaughter), Avarie. All things she was very happy to have. She still hasn't been sleeping very well at night and thinks that having the TV will help. She is used to having the TV chatter and flicker while she sleeps and had no trouble remembering how to use the remote control. Let's hope this familiar comfort helps.

She is getting very good care at Burns Manor. The staff has been very nice and attentive. Aloma is getting good food, although she still isn't eating as much as she used to, she is being kept bathed and comfortable and the staff is working with her to do some exercise therapy from her chair. Patsy says that she can see Aloma is getting stronger. The menu allows her to choose from two main items along with her choice of side items. It also sounds like the kitchen staff will make a meal for a resident whenever desired, although the staff tries to keep the residents on a regular meal schedule eaten in the nice dinning room. Now, that's great service! She has been enjoying breakfast very much which seems to be her favorite meal. Aloma is a strong-willed woman and it's hard to keep her down. There have been occasions where she tries to get up from her chair or out of bed on her own. Her attempts have results in a few minor scrapes and she now has a pressure sensitive matt underneath her that sounds an alarm for the staff when she tries to get up without help. This is all for her safety. The staff do not want her to try to get up and move around on her own because she is not yet strong enough to support herself. We hope that, with time and therapy, that will return and allow Aloma more freedom.

Aloma continues to be in a good mood and have a good attitude. She's looking forward to interacting with some of the other residents at Burns Manor. But, she'll need to get out of her wing and around some of the more communicative residents. Those that she is closest to suffer from memory problems and are living mostly in their own heads, they don't talk much, if at all. So far this week she has been able to get out to the common room where there were more residents to meet and greet. During one visit from Patsy and Pat they met her in the common room where she was sitting with puzzel in hand and ready to get started. The three of them enjoyed some puzzel time together. And, if you know Aloma, you know that she has a penchant for Bingo. The staff now has it on record to include her in their regular Bingo sessions. She will LOVE that and I'm excited to hear of how much she enjoys her first Bingo game.

This has been a good move for Aloma and an amazing sign of healing.

Until next time...

She Had Us All Worried

Aloma has been busy. As many of you know she has been over and under many health hurdles in the last few years. She has come through more than one intestinal surgery, contracted and recovered from a nasty infection after one of those surgeries and rolled through a host of complications from all of that. She has come upon trouble with her heart that put her in the hospital in Minneapolis. She has developed unbearable pain, chronic bladder infections and most recently shingles and a bit of pneumonia. It's no wonder she was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, February 9. 

This most recent hospital stay was a doozy. She went in with tremendous pain, was given pain meds that didn't seem to help much. She was extremely agitated, she wasn't sleeping, wasn't really eating and her body was continually twitching. With all of the stress and illness her body was facing she began to enter delirium. She was seeing things that no one else was seeing. There were people and dogs (she claimed Gina as her dog). There was searching for things that were not really there and talk of doing things that just didn't make sense in relation to her current life. Her memory was clearly escaping her, she wasn't recognizing people she's known for years and her speech was becoming slurred at best. 

There was a drastic departure from the pain med regimen and intravenous morphine was the new therapy.  It wasn't long before it was clear that these things were not working. Was it now just a matter of trying to keep her comfortable until it was THAT time? It was seeming that is what the doctors were thinking. Through discussions between Patsy, Aloma's daughter, and Patsy's daughters it was discovered that since being admitted to the hospital Aloma had not been given the 10 mg of Prednisone she had been taking daily for at least the last two years. Abruptly discontinuing Prednisone is extremely dangerous and can cause serious problems. On top of that her body was struggling with serious infection. This combination, we believe, is what lead to her drastically deteriorating condition. Patsy called Aloma's doctor at his home and discussed the oversight with her Prednisone. The next day she was given 10 mg of Prednisone, was given what they call a "boost" and was started on IV antibiotics. 

This new medication regimen proved to be the magic stuff. After a day or so Aloma showed drastic improvement. She became calmer, her clarity began to return, her mind began to regulate and her spark was beginning to flicker again. What a strong woman! It's amazing what that body has been through and still she begins to bounce back.

Between February 16 and February 19 Aloma welcomed a few visitors. Her son, Ron, from Illinois, drove into Hutchinson on February 16 and her son, Rick, from Nebraska, came into town on February 17. She was very excited to see them and they visited her at the hospital many times. Her granddaughters Tarah, Tracie and Tamie also stopped by to visit with her along with other friends and good neighbors. We were all happy to see her doing so well and her sweet spirit was showing through.

She continues to improve and on Monday, February 20 she was moved to Burns Manor in Hutchinson. Here she will continue to get the care and the assistance she needs. It's become too difficult for Pat to continue to assist her with the care that she needs. Although, he was right by her side at home to help her with what ever she needed. Aloma is maintaining her healing path. Her eyes are sparkling again, she is feeling more comfortable and her spirit is good. 

Keep up with Aloma here as we post updates on her progress. 

We invite you to click on "comments" below to leave your messages and well wishes for Aloma here. We will be sure they are delivered to her. 

Blessings.