the latest

Today was a tough day. Mom was not very lucid today and quite exhausted. Perhaps she overdid it yesterday. Last night as Kendra was leaving to go be with Mom at the hospital the van completely died while making great loud noises at 1:00 in the morning. As we waited for a rental car this morning to become available, Jennie and I jogged to the hospital to be with Mom. She was throwing up quite a bit and we were frustrated that there were no nurses coming in and checking on her within the 3 hours that we were there. She is on a surgery wing still in a great private room but the nurses in that unit are used to caring for people that are recovering from surgery with a "tough love" kind of approach. She really needed to be in the Palliative Care wing but no beds were available. We talked with her doctor and the nurses and they will try to get her there tomorrow where she can get a little more "love" and attention from nurses and where we don't have to worry so much. We have arranged ourselves so that she has 24 hr family care in the interim. She actually got out of bed and walked around her room this afternoon when none of us were there, which is very dangerous given her current state.

Jennie and I gave her a sponge bath this evening and polished her off with lots of baby powder and new gowns/bedding etc. She fell right asleep. Her breathing is shallow but her blood pressure and vitals are otherwise good. She has quite a lot of fluid in her abdomen but it is not full enough to drain and that is scheduled for Monday which will help her become much more comfortable.

*these photos were taken last week, May 2009