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camped out on death’s doorstep
By briantologist | February 20, 2009
Reports of Erin’s grandmother’s death were, it seems, momentarily exaggerated. She’d been gradually sliding downhill since her husband died a couple of years ago, and at some point it was determined she had leukemia (??? which apparently isn’t that uncommon in older people, and is not necessarily an immediate death sentence? but still?), so she’s been in and out of the hospital for a while. This time sure looked different, though: She’d been in and out of consciousness for a week, seemed to be in pain when she was awake, and was, I guess, just generally not doing so well. Sensing an impending funeral, ELB and HGB hopped a reasonably priced Southwest flight to Tulsa to help her mom in any way she could. (Primarily this would involve applying grandchild whenever possible.)
Except there was one thing: Apparently during what appeared to be her last week on the planet, E’s grandma’s doctor was out of town. He got back into town Monday, took a look at the grandma in question, and determined that A) she was in pain because she’d been in bed all week, and b) she’d been delirious because she was doped up all to hell on industrial-grade pain medication. (This might also explain why she’d been in bed all week, and thus in pain: because of the treatment they were giving her for her pain. If someone in charge of reforming health care could read this and mull it over, that would be great.) So a day later, having been prescribed a quart or two less morphine and advised to get up and walk around, grandma got sent home, apparently feeling much better. Nyahaaa! Suck it, death!
Except that there’s the whole leukemia thing. The transfusions they’d been giving her aren’t doing her any good anymore, so they’ve cut them out, and so she is terminal, still, only now she’s at home. Which is much better for all concerned, in particular whoever’s paying for a week and a half in the hospital. They expect she’ll have a couple more weeks.
So, yes. Chalk another one up for modern medicine. At least E doesn’t have to be back at work or anything. Henry will miss a few shifts down at the box factory, but I think I can cover for him.
Topics: Baffled Mutterings | 3 Comments »
February 20th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
That made depressing news entertaining and hopeful. Not to mention political.
Much love to your family during this time of ick!
February 20th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
healthcare reformers, take note! My aunt was in a similiar situation and everyone rushed to her side because it seemed that her marbles had scattered for good but when my mom (who is knowledgable about such things) got to the hospital and saw that she was being given hippopotamus doses of morphine coupled with less than stellar meals (my aunt was a diabetic) she was able to solve the mystery. Once auntie had some decent food and less dope, she was a whole new person. Like Erin’s grandmother, she was still in bad shape overall, but she wasn’t as bad off as everyone had assumed.
The repercussion was that now every little ache and pain was excrutiating, because she hadn’t moved in a while, plus her brain was happy with the 24/7 morphine drip. But she was able to get through it and in the end, she perservered longer than the few hours/days that were initially predicted.
I’m so sorry for everything for you guys. I hope that everyone is holding up well and I’m glad that Erin & Henry are able to be there. Big love to all involved. I will be thinking happy thoughts for all of you.
February 21st, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Is she enrolled in hospice? She may not have been eligible if she was still getting transfusions, but now might be. Medicare pays for it. Hospice helps by providing regular contact with RNs / caregivers who then will know her baseline pain/cognitive status/meds. They can facilitate inpatient stays, if necessary, by communicating those things to the hospital staff. More commonly they deliver meds at home which in most cases makes the dying process more dignified. I mean, I know most of us healthcare workers spend most of our time eating bonbons, watching Oprah, and figuring out how to piss everybody off, but those hospice workers are great.