She is Still in Hospital

Yesterday I went to the hospital at 9.00 am so as not to miss Margaret's specialist. I got a funny look from the Unit Manager (Senior Nurse) so I asked if it was true that Margaret was to be allowed home later in the morning as the nurse has said on the previous night. She said that was so provided her blood tests came back OK. This confused me as Margaret had not had any more tests since Tuesday and those results were why she was still in hospital!

I went and sat with Margaret who, like yesterday, was sure that she was coming home although she had very sore arms from the cannulas and failed drip from the day before. At about 10.15 am the pathology lab's blood collector came by and took more blood from Margaret and I knew that she wasn't coming home that day. I left her for a while to get a coffee and on the way met her specialist. He asked how Margaret was and I told him that she was upset because she thought that she was going home. He was surprised and told me that he not told anyone that and the nursing stall were making assumptions. He was to say the least "not amused".

He explained that following Margaret's problems with cannulas and drips he had decided to postpone the saline drip until she had more blood tests that day. He said that another patient had had anomalous results similar to Margaret and it could be a testing error.

After coffee I returned to Margaret and her specialist dropped in to see her and apologize for keeping her in for at least another day and assured her that, come what may, she would get out for her Christmas Lunch even if she has to return afterwards.

At 5.00 pm I visited Margaret once again and she had just seen her specialist. He had chased up her blood test Sodium levels results and they were still low but rising. The normal lower pass level is 137 mmol/l and Margaret's were now 127 from a low of 120 a couple of days earlier. On this he would release Margaret over Christmas but further blood tests would be required to check that the trend continues. Low Sodium is not a life threatening condition but does affect the brain function and hence Margaret's hallucinations. If left untreated and it falls too low the brain can swell and the patient die so it has to be watched.

On the down side the results showed that Margaret's kidney function is still in the chronic failure mode. For example the lower level for normal eGFT is 59 ml/min hers is 31 and the Urea maximum level for normal is 7.5 umol/L while her is, at best this week, 11.4 and has been as high as 26.5. I think that you and I would be in hospital with these readings but they are just "normal" for Margaret and part of the chronic state of poor health.

I am off to pick up Margaret at 10.00 am.