- Here
I will try to tell what it was like
for Mom on Dialysis...
I am not a professional by any means, I am just
trying to help someone who may feel all alone out there.
I know I wished I could have found someone with a
home page when Mom was going through all she went
through, someone who could relate to what I was
dealing with. I for some reason could find none
dealing with dialysis.
The only help I had which I will be forever grateful
for was from a wonderful person called Kate, who
has a chat room on Mirc, Her and my cyber-sis that
I adopted (Pete) and there were so many others on
Mirc, at Kate's that helped me make it through many
looooong nights!! X-Ray,Joisey,Shakey,Bluespot,Sunshine,
Cheryl,Denise, Jerry Ham, Clem,Willy Paul :Friends
without Faces, for I have never seen any of them face to
face but they are my dearest friends in this world, They
truly helped me keep my sanity. I love you All (Where-
ever you be:+))
In
1992 Mom went into the hospital ,she had 14 pounds
of
fluid on her that needed to come off, the long dreaded
day
had arrived... The doctors had put a shunt in her arm
a
year before :thinking they would have to start dialysis
anytime
:but for a year she alluded it. Now they could
put
it off no longer, the fluid was causing much stress
to
her heart so it was time for a new journey of her life
to
start. One that would continue until the end for once
dialysis
is started it can never be stopped unless you get
a
new kidney or a miracle unfortunately mom was to old
and
had to many other things wrong with her to undergo
any
major surgery, and the miracle never came, well there
were
some miracles but not a life saving one, I will tell of
those
as they come to me.
In
the beginning it seemed like Mom was doing so much
better,
she even seemed to walk better, but that was short
lived.
She had dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours a day.
On
dialysis days she always slept a lot it seemed to take so
much
out of her. She was allowed only 5 cups of fluid to
drink
a day and that included anything that would turn
to
fluid at room temperature like Jell-O or popsicle ect. It
was
very important to watch this closely because the more
fluid
she took in the more she would have to have taken off.
the
more fluid gained the harder it was on her on
dialysis
day.
After
a year or so of being on dialysis things began to
happen
Mom began to have heart problems and her legs
began
to hurt a lot more and walking was getting very
hard
for her, she began to have some very forgetful times
especially
when she first woke up. I called her one time
and
she talked very strange, she thought I stilled lived
in
Columbus in the house she was living in, she asked
"Whatever
happened to the house we use to live in together?"
She
was living there.... I really began to worry than, but
my
sister lived near by and so I figured she would look
after
mom and let me know if anything developed. I
called
my sister and had her go over to see how mom was,
when
she called me back she said mom was fine, that I
had
woke her and she had a hard time figuring things out
when
she first woke up...Still I began to worry.
I
called another time and she had forgotten that my late
husband
had died and that I had remarried, when I began
to
explain things to her she asked "Just who was I married to
anyway?"
When I told her she said "Oh yea, that's right."In
Dec.
of 94 my step father died and Mom had a heart attack
just
a few weeks after that, I went and stayed in Columbus
until
she came home and I was sure she was all right. My
Sister
assured me she would check on Mom and she had
someone
who came and cleaned house and grocery shopped
for
her so with a heavy heart I went back to Kentucky. I
knew
Mom would never be the same again...
There
were many more trips to the hospital for various
reasons,
Bowel Infraction was the worst, that was like
a
heart attack to the bowel and the damaged part just
died,
she could no longer tell when she was going to have
movements
so she had to go to the Adult Depends, that
was
so demoralizing to her but she was determined she
was
not going to give up. She went to as many of her
club
meetings that she could and hardly ever missed
church
on Sunday morning. S he encouraged those on
dialysis
that just wanted to quit, Her body was failing
but
her Spirit still was very much alive.
She
refused to move in with me and I had not been
married
that long and my husband was just a country
guy
and the city life just didn't agree with him so for
awhile
I let her have her independence but in Nov. of 96
that
all changed.
In
November 1996 my sister went out of town to Las
Vegas
so I came to stay with mom ,When I arrived I found
that
she was walking very little and when she would
try
to get up she would scream she was in so much pain.
I
asked her if she had talked with the doctor about this
pain
and she said they would only let her take 3
darvecet
a day and the pain had increased so much
with
the arthritis and the bone pain caused by dialysis
that
3 did not help her. I called and spoke with her
doctor
that treated her leg and he said that it was like
bone
on bone with her that everything had deteriorated
and
that was what was causing so much pain. He said
he
had spoke with the dialysis doctors about increasing
her
dosage or trying something stronger but they was
afraid
it would cause other problems so they said no,
I
think they was afraid of her being alone and taking
something
stronger .
She
ended up in the hospital again, they had to go in her
back
and take fluid off her, also I believe she was having
mini
strokes because she began to talk out of her head a lot,
the
doctors told me they didn't know what was causing
her
to do that....... humm.
She
was in there for 3 weeks than they released her to
a
nursing home, they started her taking 2 davecet every
4
to 6 hours. I really think the pain was so strong that
it
caused stress on the heart but I am no doctor, so who
knows?
They
promised me that they would have someone waiting
to
greet mom when she arrived at the nursing home, I
told
them mom was scared so they assured me someone
would
be there...
The
ambulance arrived there before us and had taken MOM
To
her room, Mom said none had talked with her but the
ambulance
drivers, I waited for almost 20 minutes than
I
started getting mad...noone had come to even check on
her
let alone meet her at the front door as promised, I
wanted
to pack her up and get her out of there...It was
time
for her pain meds. and she was crying in pain, There
was
a lady patient who came in and was going through
mom's
dresser and closet than she asked if mom was sick,
than
she told us mom would have to get out of there that
was
her bed.....
I
wanted to pack her up and get her OUT of there, I got
on
the call button and when asked what I wanted I said I
wanted
to know just what was going on here anyway.
I
told them mom had been brought in and just left to lay
in
pain with no one to even come and see about her, and I
told
her there was a woman who said she had to get out
of
her bed now!!!
Three
nurses came running to the room, they knew I meant
business.
They said they haden't got any orders for pain
medication
and all they could give her was Tylenol, I
was
fit to be tied, I knew that wouldn't help much. It was
late
so we had to leave, my sister and I but I knew I
would
do all I could to get her out of there. I went home
to
Kentucky for Thanksgiving but after the Holidays I
went
back to Columbus to her Dialysis Doctor, I told him
I
would be responsible for her if he would release her to
my
care, He said that was very commendable of me.. She
was
my mother and she was crying and begging to get
out
of there, what else could I do??
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