A little forward, a little backwards

Wednesday was such a good day for Nana.  She was feeling better, had an appetite, and could taste her food.

However....  Laura and I were startled out of a deep sleep at 3am with Nana calling Laura's cell phone to say that she fell.  We got downstairs to find Nana sitting next to her bed, and daubing the back of her hand with some sort of gauze.  We got her on the edge of the bed easily enough, and were able to get a better look at her hand.  She managed to whack something while she was on her way down, and cut the back of her hand pretty badly.  Laura and Nana just left to go to the ER to get her hand checked out.

Edited to add:

Laura and Nana got home from the ER around 6am, so this was a quick trip.  The doctor decided that since Nana's skin is so thin on her hands, he wouldn't be able to use sutures.  So he used some skin tape to get things back together.  Nana's poor hand is just one massive bruise.  The doctor said that it will take a few weeks for her hand to heal.

Nana was on her way back to bed, and was within two steps of getting back in bed when she fell.  The problem was that her legs became wobbly.  She described it as she was staggering like a drunkard.  Laura reminded her again that when she feels this way, either lean up against the wall or sit down for a few minutes to catch her breath.  We might just have to locate another chair in Nana's hallway so she has a landing space between her bathroom and her bedroom.

A fairly rough night

Last night / this morning was pretty rough.  Nana was using her little walker to get into her bedroom when her legs decided to no longer support her.  She had a slow speed fall just at the door to her room.  Laura was there to keep her from hitting the sharp corner on a book case.  Nothing was broken, but she did bruise herself on her arm.  This all happened about midnight.

With some help from my son, we got Nana sitting on the seat of her larger walker.  She was pretty tired, and not terribly pleased that she fell.  Laura and I were very puzzled about why her legs gave out.  Laura thought of several culprits: a side effect from one of her medications, her low blood pressure, or a sodium imbalance due to the fluid that's still seeping from the dialysis catheter incision in her leg.

Laura and I were discussing what to do given that Nana has an appointment with Dr. M later today.  I thought that if it were an imbalance or side effect, that might clear up (or change) by the time the appointment rolls around.  Laura went to talk to Nana about going to the ER, and they decided to go.  So about 1:30 or so in the morning, Laura drove Nana over to the ER.

I haven't had much of a chance to speak with Laura about what transpired at the ER as they got home a little after 7am.  When I got downstairs today, Nana was sleeping and Laura was ready to go take a nap as she'd been up all night.  She did tell me they didn't find anything.

I guess they now have something to talk about with Dr. M...

Doctor visit turns into trip to ER (and Red Leg solved!)

Laura took Nana to see Dr. M again today.  Towards the end of the exam, Dr. M decided she needed to go to the straight to the ER due to the pneumonia.  Treating it at home just wasn't working. He called for an ambulance, which got her right in to a bed in the ER.  Laura followed in Nana's car, and got to the hospital ahead of the ambulance.  Nana was able to get a bed in the hospital after she and Laura spent around 4 hours in the ER.

I'm really stretching trying to remember what happened during this hospital stay.  The only thing they could find about the red leg was that it was a reaction to being so swollen.  If you're thinking staph, they didn't find any staph in her leg--it was in her nose, of all places.  Nana got moved to the quarantine section of the hospital, and all visitors had to wear a gown and gloves.

She was feeling much better by the 16th, and was able to even spend some time outside in a wheelchair in addition to walking up and down the hall at the hospital.

Christmas 2010

Nana's legs had been swelling prior to Christmas, and she didn't want to mess up Christmas for anyone by going to the hospital.  Things continued to get worse and worse so Laura took her into the ER on December 27. They finally got a bed in the ER, and eventually a room.  Nana was administered a diuretic via IV and was discharged on the 29th, having  spent a couple of days, and losing several pounds from excess fluid.

When she went into the hospital she was 10 pounds above her normal weight--from just fluid alone! Dr M. has put her on a strict fluid restriction to help with this problem.