Monday, July 19, 2010

Back on the Job

My enforced break in visiting Margaret ended on Saturday so I visited her as normal just before 10,00 am.  She was in the shower and then having her feet and lower legs bound to try and ease the fluid away.  Her feet were still very swollen but she was in a pretty good state otherwise.  Her heart and kidneys are stable, her skin tears are healing and her arm, while still very painful, is now out of its sling and she has begun physio on keeping the shoulder joint working.  I should stay away more often:)

I sat with her until after lunch and helped her to the loo a few times and cut up her lunch for her.  This gives the nurses a little more time for their other tasks around the ward.  As Margaret is still in isolation anybody caring for other patients have to wear gowns and gloves when attending to Margaret so it is really a chore to come and tend to Margaret for the minor things which she can't manage by herself.

I visited again for dinner 5.00 - 6.00 pm and she was quite happy watching TV when I left her. 

When I visited on Sunday morning she was showered and back in bed.  She had had a bad night with pain and had little sleep.  The RN looking after her had checked her medication and discovered that she had not had her overnight painkillers due to a mix up.  When I saw the stand in specialist,  actually the hospital's Chief  of Medicine who knows Margaret well, he apologised to Margaret and assured her that her had re-written her medication charts to ensure that their would be no more mix ups.  She spent the morning resting apart from her daily walk with the physios and her simple arm exercises.  Imagine being a monkey and swinging you arm gently from the shoulder.  She does this to and through and in small circles ten times each twice a day.  As the arm is unsupported it gets quite sore at the break but it beats a permanently frozen shoulder.  The physio commented on how much better Margaret was from the previous couple of weekends when he had looked after her.  She is much stronger and gets less puffed when walking.  She is still very wobbly but this is normal and they hope that she can get back to using her wheely walker in the near future.

In the afternoon I took my laptop in and logged into Facebook to look at M's photographs of her son's wedding and R's photos of her Mum and Dad's fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Margaret loved them and I now have the task of copying them to a SD card so she can see them on her Electronic Photo Frame.

Margaret looks like being in hospital for another three weeks.  I hope that she will be able to come home for a while before we have to make the final decision on what the future holds.  I have deferred having her Aged Care Assessment carried out until she is at home.

1 comment:

  1. good on y'mate.
    with great feeling - Alan

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