Hospital Adventures

During the past several weeks, my mother's health has been rapidly declining. Her downhill battle started a couple of months ago when her legs started swelling. "Blood Clots" immediately came to mind and we took her to the emergency room. Nothing was revealed via ultrasound, so we follows-up with her doctor who diagnosed the problem as "veinous insufficiency," which apparently is very common in elderly patients. A diuretic was prescribed to remove the excess water from her legs. It appeared to be working well, although we had trouble keeping her liquid intake up.

Next came excess sleepiness and lots of bowell problems. She's always had bowell problems, so we thought nothing of this. And while she had been sleeping more, we attributed that to the Alzheimer's Disease (my grandmother also slept more as the disease progressed). It wasn't until she fell that the real cause of these problems was identified.

About two weeks ago, I had to call my brother over to help put my mom back in bed after she fell out. It was the next fall, one that happened in the morning - she apparently passed out - that landed her in the emergency room.

Immediately it was apparent to the attending physician that mom was dehydrated. Next they found her blood sugar was 570 (yes 570!! - high enough to put her into a coma) and a urinary tract infection. She was admitted to the hospital and each day we were told of something new that was problematic: e-coli (sepsis), acute kidney failure, and then the news nobody expects to hear.

Cancer. That word can be so frightening. The word never used to bother me, even though I knew certain cancers were in my family (my dad's line).

Mom has kidney cancer. They found a large mass a little larger than a grapefruit on her left kidney. The standard treatment for this type of cancer is removal of the kidney. However, she is not a candidate for surgery, given the Alzheimer's Disease and diabetes.

My sister and I speculate that the cancer may have started in her bowels and spread to her urinary system, and we also think it is in her pancreas (given the recent bout with high blood sugar).

Since coming home from the hospital, mom has been lethargic with zero appetite. She has not thirsted, so it has been difficult getting fluid and nutrition into her. Yesterday afternoon she woke up, walked around, sang, played the piano, ate well and drank a lot of liquid. Today she is back to being lethargic, etc. Perhaps yesterday was the last big hurrah?

I hate that I have to watch this disease ravage her body. I hate that the ugly C-monster has attacked so many family members and friends. I HATE CANCER!