Friday, April 30, 2004
The last couple weeks have been quite a roller coaster.
I am trying to remember in my head all that's happened.
4/8--My sister, Debbie, went into the hospital at University of Virginia. She was there for a PET scan to check on what was a new growth of her tumor. She had a rash on her forehead, which they determined to be shingles. With her compromised immune system, they told her they needed to admit her to treat it.
4/9-11--In the hospital. She talks to family and friends, but begins sounding confused and not like herself. My mom talked to her on Easter Sunday around 3pm. and my mom remarked later that she did not sound like herself at all. Later that night, Debbie's friend, Karol calls and talks to my mom, saying basically the same thing. At one point, Debbie told my mom that she was getting out of the hospital on Monday, Apr 12. I called the hospital and talked to someone at the nurses' station to get more information. It was at that point that we learned she'd been on a iv drug to treat the shingles (acyclovere -- not sure of actual spelling) but they'd neglected to keep her hydrated. This led to stress on her kidneys. They were not flushing toxins out of her system.
4/11-14--Debbie is not in a coma, but not awake. What state do you call this? My sister, Michelle, and brother, Allan, are in contact with the hospital and various doctors. On Wednesday, April 14, I talked to my brother and find out that there is also swelling in her brain. The doctors were giving her a high dose of steroids to reduce the swelling in her brain, but were saying that if the swelling did not go down in 48 hours, it would be a matter of quality of life. I made arrangements at work to take off time.
4/15--I left Orlando around 130pm. Just as I left, I talked to my brother and found that Debbie had opened her eyes that morning. This was good because at one point, I'd been crying so hard I was on the verge of puking. I drove straight through to Virginia. I meandered up and tried to stop as few times at possible, but it still took 14 hours--stopped for shampoo/conditioner when I realized I'd forgotten to grab mine out of the shower at home, stopped to find US 29 in Greensboro, NC when I realized the road didn't cross I-85 directly. Around 10pm, I got a call from my sister, Michelle and we agreed to meet in Staunton, VA to stay the night. About 3am, I got a call that they (she and my dad) had arrived and found a hotel. I got there about an hour later.
4/16--My dad, Michelle, and I got up, showered and drove to Charlottesville by 1130am. When we got there, we went up to Debbie's room. I hadn't seen her in a year. She's lost a band of hair from ear up and over to her other ear because of radiation she had in January/February. She had scars/scabs from the shingles on her face/head. The steroids she's been on have taken their toll--she's really puffy. When we walked in, she opened her eyes a little but didn't say anything. Michelle asked her a couple things and she didn't respond. We didn't know if she could respond. She did finally, but she could mostly just answer yes and no. Anytime she had to think about an answer, she could get a few words out, but the thought would seem to disappear. My mom and grandma arrived later in the day. They'd left Florida at 9am Thursday, but didn't get to Charlottesville until Friday evening. All the hotels in Charlottesville were sold out Friday night, so we ended up in a roadside motel about 45 minutes south and west of C'ville. We decided after that we would stay at Debbie's place (150 miles away) since gas to drive to the hospital would run a lot less than several nights of hotel rooms.
4/17-22--By the hour and day, Debbie became more and more coherent. Tuesday, I drove my dad back to Illinois, and returned with my brother. My mom and grandma left Virginia on Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening, Allan, Michelle and I drove back up to Charlottesville and hung out with Debbie in her room. She was sounding great. We watched American Idol, they were picking on me. We sat around and laughed about stuff. The two residents on duty stopped in the room and looked really happy to see such a light mood. On Thursday, Debbie was deemed well and one of the social workers at the hospital made arrangements to move her to a rehabilitation center for physical therapy. No one exactly explained why, but she'd lost movement in her right arm and leg. I am assuming it was some combination of the swelling in her brain and the fact that she'd been in bed for so many days. Thursday evening, Michelle and I met my brother at the place where Debbie was going to be-Highland Ridge Rehab Center in Dublin, VA. It's a small town a little south of Blacksburg, where Debbie lives. It looked ok when we got there, not overly fancy. We walked in and I quickly became extremely nauseous. The place was bottom of the barrel nursing home. The smells were awful--wet and/or soiled bed linens. Many of the elderly residents were put in wheelchairs and just sitting in the hallway moaning and yelling. The nurses/CNAs who were with Debbie in her room were checking her over when we got there, and asked us to stand out in the hallway. Just standing there taking in the place, I ran outside in tears. When I walked back in, they were done with Debbie and we hung out in her room for a couple hours. The four of us were joking around again. We were trying to be as quiet as possible b/c Debbie had a roommate and we didn't want to wake her. When we left, we had a false sense of security.
4/23--The three of us got up and ran over to Roanoke to Debbie's school where she works and the school administration building to take care of some stuff. We left Roanoke and drove to Dublin, arriving around 215pm. When we got there, they told us to wait in the hallway, as they were changing out beds for Debbie. When they let us in, Debbie was sitting in a wheelchair and her left side was convulsing. I made a comment about it to a CNA who was there and her statement: "That's a seizure? All of the old people here do that all day....I didn't know" Michelle got the RN who was pretty defensive about everything we mentioned, and most of the CNAs were unaware. The other part that ticked me off was that the RN was standing there saying that the home's dr. had made the recommendation that Debbie just needed to be in hospice care--made the statement standing right in front of Debbie. I walked into Debbie's room, looking for a notebook Michelle had left the night before. A woman staying with Debbie's roommate told me that Debbie's convulsions had started before lunch (so at this point it had been about 3 hours). Ultimately, they sent her to the Emergency Room at the local hospital, where they ended up deciding to send her back to University of Virginia. Michelle and I drove up and stayed the night in the hospital.
4/24--Debbie slept on and off all day. The staff hooked her up on an EEG to check the seizure activity. We talked about a few things. My brother got up there in the afternoon, and left for Illinois from there. Michelle and I drove back to Blacksburg Saturuday evening.
4/25--We cleaned up around Debbie's place in the morning, and got back up to Charlottesville around 330pm. I stayed until 630pm, when I left to drive back to Florida. Debbie had no recollection of Saturday. We'd asked her about possibly staying in Charlottesville rather than ending up back in a crappy center like where she'd been. Didn't remember it. Didn't remember any of us being up there on Saturday.
4/26-28--Debbie remained in the hospital with Michelle staying in Charlottesville for the week. She was moved to Salem, VA to a different rehab place. I talked to Michelle after they got to the place. She rated both nursing homes--the first one being a 2 and the second one being a 7.5 on the usual scale of 1 - 10. Michelle left today (Friday) from Virginia. At this point, I am going back May 13-19 or so.
There's a lot more to the story. In talking to Michelle last night, neither one of us can figure to what extent Debbie's memory is lacking. Some days she sound clear as a bell, and some days she's really fuzzy. Please pray that her physical therapy noticeably improves her right side in the next week or two. That brings up another problem of the next step if there is no improvement.
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I am trying to remember in my head all that's happened.
4/8--My sister, Debbie, went into the hospital at University of Virginia. She was there for a PET scan to check on what was a new growth of her tumor. She had a rash on her forehead, which they determined to be shingles. With her compromised immune system, they told her they needed to admit her to treat it.
4/9-11--In the hospital. She talks to family and friends, but begins sounding confused and not like herself. My mom talked to her on Easter Sunday around 3pm. and my mom remarked later that she did not sound like herself at all. Later that night, Debbie's friend, Karol calls and talks to my mom, saying basically the same thing. At one point, Debbie told my mom that she was getting out of the hospital on Monday, Apr 12. I called the hospital and talked to someone at the nurses' station to get more information. It was at that point that we learned she'd been on a iv drug to treat the shingles (acyclovere -- not sure of actual spelling) but they'd neglected to keep her hydrated. This led to stress on her kidneys. They were not flushing toxins out of her system.
4/11-14--Debbie is not in a coma, but not awake. What state do you call this? My sister, Michelle, and brother, Allan, are in contact with the hospital and various doctors. On Wednesday, April 14, I talked to my brother and find out that there is also swelling in her brain. The doctors were giving her a high dose of steroids to reduce the swelling in her brain, but were saying that if the swelling did not go down in 48 hours, it would be a matter of quality of life. I made arrangements at work to take off time.
4/15--I left Orlando around 130pm. Just as I left, I talked to my brother and found that Debbie had opened her eyes that morning. This was good because at one point, I'd been crying so hard I was on the verge of puking. I drove straight through to Virginia. I meandered up and tried to stop as few times at possible, but it still took 14 hours--stopped for shampoo/conditioner when I realized I'd forgotten to grab mine out of the shower at home, stopped to find US 29 in Greensboro, NC when I realized the road didn't cross I-85 directly. Around 10pm, I got a call from my sister, Michelle and we agreed to meet in Staunton, VA to stay the night. About 3am, I got a call that they (she and my dad) had arrived and found a hotel. I got there about an hour later.
4/16--My dad, Michelle, and I got up, showered and drove to Charlottesville by 1130am. When we got there, we went up to Debbie's room. I hadn't seen her in a year. She's lost a band of hair from ear up and over to her other ear because of radiation she had in January/February. She had scars/scabs from the shingles on her face/head. The steroids she's been on have taken their toll--she's really puffy. When we walked in, she opened her eyes a little but didn't say anything. Michelle asked her a couple things and she didn't respond. We didn't know if she could respond. She did finally, but she could mostly just answer yes and no. Anytime she had to think about an answer, she could get a few words out, but the thought would seem to disappear. My mom and grandma arrived later in the day. They'd left Florida at 9am Thursday, but didn't get to Charlottesville until Friday evening. All the hotels in Charlottesville were sold out Friday night, so we ended up in a roadside motel about 45 minutes south and west of C'ville. We decided after that we would stay at Debbie's place (150 miles away) since gas to drive to the hospital would run a lot less than several nights of hotel rooms.
4/17-22--By the hour and day, Debbie became more and more coherent. Tuesday, I drove my dad back to Illinois, and returned with my brother. My mom and grandma left Virginia on Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening, Allan, Michelle and I drove back up to Charlottesville and hung out with Debbie in her room. She was sounding great. We watched American Idol, they were picking on me. We sat around and laughed about stuff. The two residents on duty stopped in the room and looked really happy to see such a light mood. On Thursday, Debbie was deemed well and one of the social workers at the hospital made arrangements to move her to a rehabilitation center for physical therapy. No one exactly explained why, but she'd lost movement in her right arm and leg. I am assuming it was some combination of the swelling in her brain and the fact that she'd been in bed for so many days. Thursday evening, Michelle and I met my brother at the place where Debbie was going to be-Highland Ridge Rehab Center in Dublin, VA. It's a small town a little south of Blacksburg, where Debbie lives. It looked ok when we got there, not overly fancy. We walked in and I quickly became extremely nauseous. The place was bottom of the barrel nursing home. The smells were awful--wet and/or soiled bed linens. Many of the elderly residents were put in wheelchairs and just sitting in the hallway moaning and yelling. The nurses/CNAs who were with Debbie in her room were checking her over when we got there, and asked us to stand out in the hallway. Just standing there taking in the place, I ran outside in tears. When I walked back in, they were done with Debbie and we hung out in her room for a couple hours. The four of us were joking around again. We were trying to be as quiet as possible b/c Debbie had a roommate and we didn't want to wake her. When we left, we had a false sense of security.
4/23--The three of us got up and ran over to Roanoke to Debbie's school where she works and the school administration building to take care of some stuff. We left Roanoke and drove to Dublin, arriving around 215pm. When we got there, they told us to wait in the hallway, as they were changing out beds for Debbie. When they let us in, Debbie was sitting in a wheelchair and her left side was convulsing. I made a comment about it to a CNA who was there and her statement: "That's a seizure? All of the old people here do that all day....I didn't know" Michelle got the RN who was pretty defensive about everything we mentioned, and most of the CNAs were unaware. The other part that ticked me off was that the RN was standing there saying that the home's dr. had made the recommendation that Debbie just needed to be in hospice care--made the statement standing right in front of Debbie. I walked into Debbie's room, looking for a notebook Michelle had left the night before. A woman staying with Debbie's roommate told me that Debbie's convulsions had started before lunch (so at this point it had been about 3 hours). Ultimately, they sent her to the Emergency Room at the local hospital, where they ended up deciding to send her back to University of Virginia. Michelle and I drove up and stayed the night in the hospital.
4/24--Debbie slept on and off all day. The staff hooked her up on an EEG to check the seizure activity. We talked about a few things. My brother got up there in the afternoon, and left for Illinois from there. Michelle and I drove back to Blacksburg Saturuday evening.
4/25--We cleaned up around Debbie's place in the morning, and got back up to Charlottesville around 330pm. I stayed until 630pm, when I left to drive back to Florida. Debbie had no recollection of Saturday. We'd asked her about possibly staying in Charlottesville rather than ending up back in a crappy center like where she'd been. Didn't remember it. Didn't remember any of us being up there on Saturday.
4/26-28--Debbie remained in the hospital with Michelle staying in Charlottesville for the week. She was moved to Salem, VA to a different rehab place. I talked to Michelle after they got to the place. She rated both nursing homes--the first one being a 2 and the second one being a 7.5 on the usual scale of 1 - 10. Michelle left today (Friday) from Virginia. At this point, I am going back May 13-19 or so.
There's a lot more to the story. In talking to Michelle last night, neither one of us can figure to what extent Debbie's memory is lacking. Some days she sound clear as a bell, and some days she's really fuzzy. Please pray that her physical therapy noticeably improves her right side in the next week or two. That brings up another problem of the next step if there is no improvement.
Monday, April 12, 2004
I am working this week and most of next week, then I will be going to Virginia. I am probably just going for a few days at this point. My sister is in the hospital right now with shingles. The chemotherapy diminished her immune system, which leaves her open to getting this. I looked around online and it seems to happen to a lot of cancer patients.
Easter night was spent talking to different people--nurse at UVA's hospital, friend of Debbie's in NC, my other sister in IL. I think all of us are going there to get the "things" in order so that it's not left until a point where Debbie cannot make any decisions on her own. She has two dogs who are a little out of control anyway, but she cannot take care of them at this point. My mom is ready to adopt them out, but we need to be sensitive to her feelings about it as well.
If I could move up there and just walk into a job that payed decent and had good benefits, I'd think about moving up there, but just going without any idea of what I could do, it's hard to even consider it.
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Easter night was spent talking to different people--nurse at UVA's hospital, friend of Debbie's in NC, my other sister in IL. I think all of us are going there to get the "things" in order so that it's not left until a point where Debbie cannot make any decisions on her own. She has two dogs who are a little out of control anyway, but she cannot take care of them at this point. My mom is ready to adopt them out, but we need to be sensitive to her feelings about it as well.
If I could move up there and just walk into a job that payed decent and had good benefits, I'd think about moving up there, but just going without any idea of what I could do, it's hard to even consider it.
Saturday, April 03, 2004
Oh...latest hint...over in the sidebar on the right is a "button" that says "View My Guestmap/Place Your Pin/Click Here". It's a really cool feature from Bravenet.com where (instead of a guestbook), people can show where they're from. :-D It *would* be cool if someone would try it. *big grin*
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The Green Swamp is burning again!
What I was afraid of--in February 2001, there were lots of fires around Central Florida. The largest one was in the Green Swamp. I haven't gone exploring it, and to me it just looks like woods, but apparently it's all swampy. Anyway, the Green Swamp is just out past where I live. I haven't posted any of my lovely photos from my balcony yet, but the nice view could become a raging fire if they don't get it contained. I think the news earlier today mentioned that 2800 acres burned overnight. Calling all firefighters! Last time, the thing burned for almost a month and Interstate 4 was closed. This was, of course, just before I moved closer to Orlando and still needed to USE that @$*# road. Yes, I said @$*#--even when it is open it is one of the worst interstates in the entire nation!
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What I was afraid of--in February 2001, there were lots of fires around Central Florida. The largest one was in the Green Swamp. I haven't gone exploring it, and to me it just looks like woods, but apparently it's all swampy. Anyway, the Green Swamp is just out past where I live. I haven't posted any of my lovely photos from my balcony yet, but the nice view could become a raging fire if they don't get it contained. I think the news earlier today mentioned that 2800 acres burned overnight. Calling all firefighters! Last time, the thing burned for almost a month and Interstate 4 was closed. This was, of course, just before I moved closer to Orlando and still needed to USE that @$*# road. Yes, I said @$*#--even when it is open it is one of the worst interstates in the entire nation!
The only book which doesn't take place in Narnia at all, per se, you're the story of a voyage to find the end of the world and hopefully the Seven Lost Lords (remember Rhoop!). You contain some of the most unique people and places and beautiful descriptions of the whole series.
Find out which Chronicles of Narnia book you are.
