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.