Busy Monday

It is really amazing the differences in care between weekends and week days in the hospital. Noticeably different! Yesterday at this time, the only people I saw were a nurse and her CNA. Today doctors, nurses, case manager, and physicians' assistant (or PA) have all been in to see Mom. I set a goal early this morning that I would get some traction on two levels - her mental acuity and her arm. So far so good....although if it were up to the old fart Dr Andrews, she'd get nothing. It is obvious he does not care whether she survives this. His body language and lack of attention speak volumes. Dr. Chan will be back tomorrow and I pray she will too. Her mind is all over the place, at times incoherent and sometimes almost catatonic.

Joe, Dr. C's PA has increased her dosage of antidepressant temporarily. I asked for a psych evaluation and her case manager says she is probably suffering from psychosis from being locked up in this room so long. Probably? No she is! She has hallucinations or delusions of people not there. She even knows they are delusions and asks if they will give her some help. Even in this state, she is aware she is not 'right' in her head.

Her case manager says she will need to go to a nursing home to recuperate as the cardiac rehab will be too much for her. Unless she starts eating and showing signs she wants to live, I have a sense with Andrews at the helm, they'd just shove her off to die. She was close to suicidal last night but this morning the first thing she said to me was she wants to live and look at her, she's living! And she even asked if I was proud of her for wanting to live.

As for her arm, the wound-care folks have yet to come by. I'll write up that visit in a separate post.

This is so difficult, very hard to watch a vibrant woman who walked into this hospital come to this. It is not good and I told them this place has damaged her. I'm laying it on the line. She was a vibrant and motivated person the night we had our family conference call. Today, I'm not sure where she is - somewhere inside herself. It could be her coping mechanism to deal with the pain. I don't know. This is an article I found that describes hospital psychosis and it fits perfectly with what Mom is experiencing.