Mom's report 12/10

Today was a long day after a short night. However, there were some encouraging things...
When Liz, Curt and I got to the hospital at 8:00 AM, Mom was wide awake, compared with the past couple of days. She was glaring at her night nurse, Cliff. She had woken up at 2:00 AM just famished. When she inquired about food, he told her that she was hungry because she hadn't eaten her dinner the night before and there was no food available. She was mad at him the rest of the night until we got there, and told him to just wait til his kids got there! They would take care of him...
Her heart also went into A-fibrillation at 2:30 AM. They had to give her some metoporol and by 3:30, it had gone back into sinus rhythm.
We told Dr. Bruce Kenwood that we were not ready to move Mom over to Intermountain Medical Center (IMC) for this experimental testing, especially when she has seemed to struggle with recovery from the TTE she'd had two days before. He seemed a little disappointed, but rescinded the order he'd put together the day before. However, after Dr. Wade came in and talked with us for a LONG time about the possibilities that lie before us, he convinced us that it would be best for Mom to take her to Intermountain. He went to reverse the order and came back in to tell us that Dr. Thorn's team was going to reevaluate whether to operate on Mom. Dr. Affleck from Dr. Thorn's team came in and explained to us the real risks of surgery for Mom. She is a very sick woman... her renal (kidney) function is down to 15%, down from 30% when she came into the hospital on Saturday. We were informed that Mom had had kidney problems since back in 2001 when she had the heart bypass surgery... They ordered Dr. Rich, a nephrologist, to come see Mom for the first time. They also got a room for Mom in pulmonary cardio care one floor up. So we made plans to move out of ICU. They did all the bloodwork, gave Mom some stool softeners, got her up to walk around some, and then took her for a ride in the "chair" up to 3 South Rm. 31.
Other doctors we talked to:
Dr. Eric Rich - the nephrologist who talked about Mom's kidney function.
Dr. David Affleck - a doctor on Dr. Thorn's team
Dr. Shreekanth Karwande - a doctor on Dr. Thorn's team
We got Mom settled into the PCU. Rachael was a great nurse. She helped Mom get her bowels working and took off her IV. Mom was pretty tired by then, but she had to stay on target, because then began the barrage of visitors:
--Sid came in from London
--Bruce came back from Maryland
--Rob came back from Minneapolis
--Tanner & Brittany came down from Rexburg
--Kyle came from Houston
--Richie & Carolyn and family came with Carolyn's sister, Jennifer
--Christina came
--Bobby, Ashleigh and Brooke came
--Bruce and Jeannie, Bret & Wendy came
--Elise came
--Aunt Mardette and Uncle Royce came
It was almost like Mom planned a party and everyone came...a Bassett 2nd Friday Dinner, you might say, as Bruce and Jeannie picked up Chinese take-out for everyone and Sid, Bruce & Jeannie provided after-dinner chocolates & Toblerone.
After most of the grandkids left, the siblings had a family council out in the waiting room. We discussed medical possibilities for Mom and decided to have Mom go over to IMC, as we felt that St. Marks could no longer do anything more for her. We also discussed possible necessary preparations in regards to Mom's health.
After our sibling meeting, all of us went in to say goodnight to Mom. Kyle and I were the last to go in, and as Kyle visited with Mom, I noticed that Dr. Wade was working on call and was there just outside Mom's room. So before we left to go home, I told him that we would like for Mom to go to IMC.
Tomorrow will be another day...a fresh beginning to Mom's health care. Hopefully it will be a positive one in the Lord's time frame...and ours...and hers...
I'm sure there is more that could be said, but I will leave that for tomorrow...as it is late and my brain is foggy from lack of sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day!