Here we go again...

A lot has happened since my last post.

Shortly after Mom was admitted to Lake Bennett, she moved to room 110. Let me give you a guide to Lake Bennett. The rooms remind me of very cheap hotel rooms. There is a 3 drawer night stand in each room. Each looks like it could be about 50 years old given the condition. Her first bed had 3 hand cranks at the foot to raise the head, foot or middle. When mom moved, she requested an automated bed so that she could reposition herself. Each room also has a small cork board, a reclining chair and a decent sized closet. On Mom's first full day (in room 309), Dianne and I decorated the room with all of your cards and drawings. The next weekend, we did the same to her new room. Today, we had to take it all down again. More to come on that.

The rest of Lake Bennett is beautiful. There is a big dining hall for meals and activities. They have a very nice rehab room. There is a library with books on tape, real books, a computer and a puzzle for all to work on. Everything is so clean and well kept. The facility has three main wings, and each wing has three hallways. Each hallway is a 100 series with 10-12 rooms; the north wing is made up of rooms 101 to 310. At the focal point of these three hallways is the nurses station, and a lobby of sorts. There is a big open area with a large screen (52") TV. Mom's wing was the senior senior senior section, so the TV was always set to Turner Classic Movies (TCM). During the day, patients hang out in the area and socialize or watch TV.

Mom began receiving all kinds of therapy the Monday following admission. There was the normal physical therapy, plus speech therapy and occupational therapy. Over the almost 3 weeks of therapy she has had, she is still not walking. But this week she was able to stand for about 90 seconds. That was awesome!

Now for the flip side. (Why does it seem like there is always a flip side??) It seems like mom has had a urinary tract infection on and off for months now... probably because she has! So once again they started her on antibiotics. Tuesday night, I was not able to visit mom, but when I called she sounded fine. But apparently, at some point overnight she began having hallucinations. Now, I think some us have have already learned this, but for the rest of us... Urinary tract infections in older (and don't ask me what age makes one 'older') women can lead to hallucinations. We have been through hallucinations before so we know what to expect right?

Wednesday morning Mom called me as I was driving to work. I knew immediately that she was not right, so I called the nurses station to keep an eye on her. Dianne and Larry visited mom that afternoon. Dianne can tell you how much fun (dripping with sarcasm) that was. However, through all that mom had a very good therapy day. This is when she stood for 90 seconds. Thursday was more of the same. Once again Dianne and Larry visited. Dianne called me at about 4:30 to tell me they were leaving and give me a recap. I wasnt able to answer the phone right away. At about 4:40, the nursing supervisor called and once again I could not answer right away. Note, this was 10 minutes after Dianne and Larry left. The hospital called back at 5:05. They called to tell me that they were worried about mom's altered mental state so the doctor ordered that she go to the hospital. They would be transporting her to ORMC within the hour.

So off to the ER we went. Her blood work was not too bad (creatinine 2.6, BUN 21, white count normal). They drew blood and urine for cultures. We wont have any results for another day or two, but the urine sample prelim results indicated it was bad. So they started her on Vancomycin again. At about midnight the nurse told me to head home because she would probably be admitted and she was sleeping pretty soundly. They did a CT scan of the head, too. I have not heard the results from a medical professional, yet. Today, we learned that mom was admitted to Lucerne hospital, room 358.

So today, Dianne and I had to clear out mom's room at Lake Bennett since insurance will not pay to hold the room, and neither will I at $195 per night! It is amazing how much stuff mom accumulated in the last 3 weeks. Then we went to visit with Mom. She was already much more lucid which was very nice. The room is very very nice, especially coming from Lake Bennett. There is a little round table with straight chair, a little coffee table, a reclining chair and a TV armoire. It is very nice and reminds me of a seaside motel room. I wish the view was more like the seaside. =)

So that is where we are as of today. Hopefully we will only be in Lucerne a few days so we can get back on the rehab track as soon as possible.

Postnote - This is Mom holding up the Alaskan pipeline in Fairbanks, Alaska.