Blogging by private people

Blogging by private people may be an oxymoron, but when confronted with the enormity of communicating about the health of an individual loved by many, it provides a personal way to share a story with those who want to follow.

On Thursday, May 28, Brad called to let me know that Mother, "Honey" had a deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot) in her leg, and that Patti, my sister-in-law was with her. She also had some signs of an infection somewhere in her body.


Mother has a wonderful doctor in Chattanooga, Dr. Sowell, who made immediate arrangements to get her into Memorial Hospital, and our family is so grateful for his attention to the immediacy of her needs. As so many of Mother's friends would attest, her needs are never apparent on the surface, and Dr. Sowell understood that her best care would be in the hopital.


While Mother never dreamed that she would go directly from Dr. Sowell's office to Memorial Hospital, it was a seamless transition thanks to Patti, who transported Mother there, got her packed, communicated with Brad and me, and helped us understand that this was exactly the right solution. Brad and I are both so very lucky that Patti was with her.

Recently, Mother visited me in Birmingham, and was feeling bad the whole time she was here. She had very little energy, didn't feel like talking, and had trouble sleeping due to the leg cramps that plague her at night. The leg cramps were severe and constant, keeping her up and down all night. She is now wondering if the leg cramps could have caused the blood clot.

While we may never know what caused the clot, we are sure it is an unwelcome visitor in an already complicated health landscape. Mother's kidney disease puts tight constraints on the amount of anti-inflammatories she can take to relieve her ever present joint pain. The blood clot treatment, coumadin, takes this limited relief to zero. Dr. Sowell explained that it can take four or more months to dissolve the blood clot and that she will have to take the coumadin for at least six months.

At Memorial, Mother had very good care, and very bland food, even on May 29th, her birthday. She has a taste bud that can detect artificial sweetener a mile away, so even the jello was a disappointment. I don't know how a person survives in a hospital if they can't eat the jello. Brad and I were both ready to sneak in food she likes, but she did not have much of an appetite. Her tiredness was great, and seems to have stemmed from a too low heart rate and fluctuating blood pressure. Dr. Sowell thought this was a side effect of one of her blood pressure medications, and was able to take her off the beta blocker. By Friday, her heart rate had improved, and we thought she might be able to leave the hospital. She had a terrific headache on Friday and still had some fluctuation with the blood pressure. Ultimately, we waited until Saturday. Dr. Sowell gave her a choice of returning to her apartment with home health visits to administer a temporary medication (a stomach injection of Lovenox that augments the coumadin until it reaches the desired level) or going to the health care unit at Alexian. This was a very difficult decision for Mother, but she ultimately decided to go to the health care unit where she could get her injections and daily bloodwork.

One of the health care professionals at Alexian -- Ruskin -- works full time assisting residents make the transition from the hospital to the health care unit. Ruskin came to the hospital on Friday, answered all questions about the transition, and helped get all the paperwork together so that Mother could go straight into a room once she arrived at Alexian. Ruskin told us he was a nurse at the health care center before taking this position as the liaison. It was apparent that he is a natural in this role.

I only had the opportunity to meet two of Mother's nurses at Memorial, Amanda and Cortney. They were both great, as were the aides and other staff who cared for Mother. There was an information board in Mother's room where the nurses posted their names when shifts changed, and other information about the patient, like diet and any other restrictions. My niece Rachel spotted the board immediately, and drew a get well message full of hearts and artisticly sprinkled dots. One night, Mother and I watched Cortney carefully erase and change the pertinent information without removing any of Rachel's art. Mother smiled and said that all the nurses and aides quietly condensed their information into the reduced space, and carefully erased each time.