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Clemi Spent FA Down Time at the Hospital -Update-
12 years ago
General
Sorry for not many updates now that FA is back up and running guys. But my life during the FA down time was just too chaotic for me to work on art of any kind.
For the past two weeks, my mom has been getting very winded by just walking a few feet. To the point where walking from the living room to the bathroom in our apartment, she has to stop in the hallway to catch her breath before reaching the bathroom. Her legs have also always been swollen, but they seemed to almost double in size as well making it even more difficult to stand let alone walk.
She finally listened to me and my sister and called her doctor to see what could be done, upon telling them about her shortness of breath as well as her swelling, they told her don't come into the office go straight to the ER instead. So I spent Friday night in the ER where basically everything boiled down to this:
1. The doctors believe that sometime in the past week and a half, she had a heart attack. There is a stress hormone that the heart releases when it is in distress and when checked for in a blood test the value is supposed to be less than 1. Her blood test said it was 21.
2. Not only was she severely retaining fluid in her legs and feet, she also has fluid gathering in her lungs to go along with a mild case of pneumonia. Also aside from fluid gathering in her legs, she also has cysts forming in both her knees as well.
Friday night, they knew they had to do an angiogram to see just what was wrong with her heart. Something was making that stress hormone/chemical appear in her blood and they needed to check things out. Upon doing the test, they noticed that one of her arteries was 99% blocked, and one other was blocked badly as well, so two stents were put in to help keep them open.
Everything was looking better the days following and she was expected to come home Tuesday however since today is Wednesday, things have changed.
Her cardiologist, doesn't like the way my mom's lungs sound, aka there's still a fair bit of fluid in them. My mom has had a cough for 6 months that no one has done anything about until now, and I'm sure that it was just the fluid slowly building over time. But since he is a heart specialist, not a lung specialist, he wants to talk to a pulmologist and get his advice on what to do.
Mom herself is doing okay. She's getting up, walking around her room, taking herself to the bathroom. The only problem is after she does anything, she gets severely winded and has to sit down with oxygen on and catch her breath. We're hoping that whomever they need to talk to comes soon, because at this rate they might just let her stay there until Christmas and my sister and I won't be able to take much more of this.
The tl;dr version:
- Clemi's mom had a heart attack and a mild case of pnuemonia
- Mom had 2 stents put in arteries to clear them up
- She is doing better, however still has fluid in her lungs causing shortness of breath
- She is staying in the hospital until a lung specialist can figure out how to get the fluid out.
- No ETA on coming home.
So my life over the past few days has once again been turned upside down. As a child of a single parent home, I once again feel like a 6 year old kid rather than the 26 year old woman that you all know. I go to the hospital, spend as much time as I can with her, thinking about how this could have gone horribly wrong instead of always looking at the brighter side of things as I try to do. Things could have been much worse, I realize that. I know that she's also getting better day by day and I am truly grateful for that as well. But for right now, art will be slow until I can find a way to deal with everything that's piling on top of me.
I know a lot of you have been waiting a very long time for art from me, and I feel horrible about making you wait longer. But there are days I turn on my computer and just can't do anything more than stare at my desktop before leaving to try and distract myself.
Update 12/27
Mom is still in the hospital. She's no longer on IV meds, the blood pressure meds they're giving her are working a little too well(she goes from borderline high to low), blood sugars are looking pretty good as well. The only thing keeping her there is that she's still relying on oxygen.
Since she said she's not on oxygen at home, they're keeping her there and trying to ween her off it. But quite frankly, if they feel like she needs to be on oxygen, why not just watch her for 24hrs without any on and watch her levels and then if she still needs it, send her home with an order for oxygen!
Update on my half, I've gone and caught a terrible head cold. It's intense sinus pressure below and behind my eyes, my ears, and jaw as well as a sore throat. My entire head feels like it's going to explode at times. >< I am taking meds for it, but ungh still sucks.
For the past two weeks, my mom has been getting very winded by just walking a few feet. To the point where walking from the living room to the bathroom in our apartment, she has to stop in the hallway to catch her breath before reaching the bathroom. Her legs have also always been swollen, but they seemed to almost double in size as well making it even more difficult to stand let alone walk.
She finally listened to me and my sister and called her doctor to see what could be done, upon telling them about her shortness of breath as well as her swelling, they told her don't come into the office go straight to the ER instead. So I spent Friday night in the ER where basically everything boiled down to this:
1. The doctors believe that sometime in the past week and a half, she had a heart attack. There is a stress hormone that the heart releases when it is in distress and when checked for in a blood test the value is supposed to be less than 1. Her blood test said it was 21.
2. Not only was she severely retaining fluid in her legs and feet, she also has fluid gathering in her lungs to go along with a mild case of pneumonia. Also aside from fluid gathering in her legs, she also has cysts forming in both her knees as well.
Friday night, they knew they had to do an angiogram to see just what was wrong with her heart. Something was making that stress hormone/chemical appear in her blood and they needed to check things out. Upon doing the test, they noticed that one of her arteries was 99% blocked, and one other was blocked badly as well, so two stents were put in to help keep them open.
Everything was looking better the days following and she was expected to come home Tuesday however since today is Wednesday, things have changed.
Her cardiologist, doesn't like the way my mom's lungs sound, aka there's still a fair bit of fluid in them. My mom has had a cough for 6 months that no one has done anything about until now, and I'm sure that it was just the fluid slowly building over time. But since he is a heart specialist, not a lung specialist, he wants to talk to a pulmologist and get his advice on what to do.
Mom herself is doing okay. She's getting up, walking around her room, taking herself to the bathroom. The only problem is after she does anything, she gets severely winded and has to sit down with oxygen on and catch her breath. We're hoping that whomever they need to talk to comes soon, because at this rate they might just let her stay there until Christmas and my sister and I won't be able to take much more of this.
The tl;dr version:
- Clemi's mom had a heart attack and a mild case of pnuemonia
- Mom had 2 stents put in arteries to clear them up
- She is doing better, however still has fluid in her lungs causing shortness of breath
- She is staying in the hospital until a lung specialist can figure out how to get the fluid out.
- No ETA on coming home.
So my life over the past few days has once again been turned upside down. As a child of a single parent home, I once again feel like a 6 year old kid rather than the 26 year old woman that you all know. I go to the hospital, spend as much time as I can with her, thinking about how this could have gone horribly wrong instead of always looking at the brighter side of things as I try to do. Things could have been much worse, I realize that. I know that she's also getting better day by day and I am truly grateful for that as well. But for right now, art will be slow until I can find a way to deal with everything that's piling on top of me.
I know a lot of you have been waiting a very long time for art from me, and I feel horrible about making you wait longer. But there are days I turn on my computer and just can't do anything more than stare at my desktop before leaving to try and distract myself.
Update 12/27
Mom is still in the hospital. She's no longer on IV meds, the blood pressure meds they're giving her are working a little too well(she goes from borderline high to low), blood sugars are looking pretty good as well. The only thing keeping her there is that she's still relying on oxygen.
Since she said she's not on oxygen at home, they're keeping her there and trying to ween her off it. But quite frankly, if they feel like she needs to be on oxygen, why not just watch her for 24hrs without any on and watch her levels and then if she still needs it, send her home with an order for oxygen!
Update on my half, I've gone and caught a terrible head cold. It's intense sinus pressure below and behind my eyes, my ears, and jaw as well as a sore throat. My entire head feels like it's going to explode at times. >< I am taking meds for it, but ungh still sucks.
That's absolutely outrageous, and from working in the healthcare industry myself, this makes me absolutely seethe. Fluid retention is bloody serious, and if I'd been led around the sticks for this long I'd be baying for blood, never mind a ranty FA journal. It speaks volumes about your kind nature that you're taking this so well, Clem.
Let me know if there's anything you need or want, or if there's anything I/we can do to help. I'd be more than happy to render assistance where I can.
The actual fluid in her lungs, didn't show up until recently as far as we know. No one mentioned hearing anything in her lungs until after she got in the hospital. She has had a cough for 6 months, that no one knew the reason to, it just got worse recently most likely because of the fluid in her lungs.
As for the cough - Christ almighty. Symptoms persisting for three weeks or more is a flag for lung cancer - six months should have had doctors scrambling for an inpatient booking. Had I been your GP I would have sent your old lass straight in for a more thorough checkup, no questions asked. Hobbling around with short breath and legs like an elephant should have been a sure flag for underlying issues.
Think it might be time to go looking for a new doctor.
She's never smoked a day in her life, she doesn't drink, and over all should be in good shape aside from the diabetes. So most things that seem abnormal, are red flags to me. But even when she's asked about things, she seems to brush them off as well which doesn't help.
I hope your mom is on the mend soon!
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5338194/ and alerted
I do hope she gets to go home for Christmas, that's something I dread, being somewhere else when you're supposed to be with family. *hugs* My thoughts are with you.
Hugs to you and your mom, know what it is like to go thru these things, especially with it being the holiday season to boot. Lit a candle for you both and sending some energy your way. If she is retaining water and is not allergic to nuts look into natural coconut water. Some cities you can find the green coconuts those are the best to use. If not most health stores carry the canned water. Have to be careful if she is on a diuretic already. The water acts as a natural diuretic, and has a ton of other benefits if you want to research them.