CAREGIVING: I’m writing this from Kathy’s hospital room. On Tuesday we got up as usual and Kathy was coughing and couldn’t really eat or drink much of anything. I had figured out that I could get her to take her meds by breaking them up into small pieces and putting them in a little applesauce. Unfortunately the combination of insufficient fluids, and a series of medicines that happen to lower her blood pressure; left her lethargic. When Susanne, the VNA nurse did her regular Tuesday visit I voiced my concerns about her eating and coughing. She checked and Kathy’s blood pressure and Oxygen were too low, and her breathing was rapid. She felt Kathy had to be admitted to the hospital. She called 9-1-1.
The Hampden police arrived semi-instantly. It wasn’t a panic situation like on TV. I didn’t catch their names but one was an uniformed officer and the other was the detective. They gave her oxygen and her O2 levels went up right away. They had never heard of Huntington’s. Susanne kept calling it HC or Huntington’s Chorea. That was the traditional name for the disease. When the ambulance arrived one of the officers showed them how to come up the side to the kitchen door. The female EMT was asking for her meds list and they always zero in on the depakote. “Is she having a seizure?” “And what is Huntington’s?” Susanne explained that it is a rare genetic brain disease. I added that it is a combination of Parkinson’s, MS, ALS and Alzheimer’s. Then the phone rang and it was the medical supply company wanting to deliver the hospital bed today. I told the nurse who it was and she said just tell them “you will call them back.” I couldn’t think straight for a minute. Or three. Or five.
They put her on a little stair chair and bumped her down the walk and stairs, out to the ambulance. I haven’t been able to do any yard work so the brick walk is overgrown with grass. But they got her down there and into the ambulance. The police encouraged me to go in my car so that I could get home. Good thinking. They also said not to rush and take my time getting there. That was good because I really had to pee. So did Marty.
I took care of a few things and called Medical Resources to tell them we wouldn’t need an aide tonight or tomorrow morning. By the time I drove to the Emergency Department at Baystate and found a place to park and raced in i was out of breath. But Kathy wasn’t there. I asked if I was at the wrong hospital? Apparently many people beat the ambulance there. I think they must be using my GPS which seems to take the longest route possible. (Punishment for not buying the updates).
I got a pass and was shown the way to pod C where I found her. She was on oxygen and IV fluids. Her blood pressure and oxygen were getting stable and she was comfortable. They had already done a chest X-ray and could tell there was patchiness to show pneumonia. They drew blood from both arms, urine samples and anything to do a full lab work up. After an hour or two they found a room for her. They were going to be giving her antibiotics to stop the infection. They were thinking she might have aspirated some food into her lungs. I asked the ER nurse, “I know it isn’t your department but any guess as to how long she will be in.”
She said “Oh, I never go there. “When they leave here (the ER) I have to tell myself they are all Ok. They all live.”
An orderly and a nurse got her settled into her room. I stayed until I guess 9 because the nurse had a lot of questions for me and her computer cart. (They have little carts with computers that access everything that is in the Baystate Health System.) I went home to a dark house. Marty was GLAD to see me and couldn’t understand why he went from having police and EMT butts to sniff to dark loneliness. Marty and I had dinner (leftovers), I called Kathy’s sister and my sister and tried to find a clean spot on the bed to sleep on.
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