This morning I phoned the ward to ask how mum was. The nurse was lovely and said she had just been speaking to mum. I said I would ring mum on her patient phone if she was awake and the nurse said she'd go and help mum answer the phone when I rung which she did. Mum was a bit vague but she did tell me she had had her bloods done and had had porridge and a roll for her breakfast.
At 9.30am I arrived at the hospice for my first chat with the family support woman/counsellor. She was absolutely lovely and helped me identify my priorities at the moment. I arranged to go back at 1.30pm with my aunt and uncle to have a look round and to chat to some staff about hospice at home, sitters, day therapy, respite care etc.
Next I popped into school very briefly to leave some work for my classes and then headed home. After lunch my aunt and uncle came with me to the hospice and it was fantastic. Everyone was so nice and caring, the atmosphere was calm and when we eventually left around an hour later the staff nurse gave me a hug and told me to get Christine to put a referral in for mum. How I wished I could just go up to the hospital, collect mum and take her there.
I had phoned the hospital at lunch time and asked for them to arrange a meeting with a doctor re: mums careplan for sometime during afternoon visiting. Within 5 minutes of arriving I had been taken to a room to meet with the doc. He was very nice but my main concern was that mum was still receiving the same meds for the low sodium count that she had been having at home and yet I had been told on Tuesday evening they were to be increased. He also told me Dr Mehta had been and he was happy with the dose. He pointed out that the low sodium was probably due to mums cancer, as if I didn't know, and said they needed to get the CT scan done to see what was going on. The CT scan hasn't been done today, however.
Mum was very confused, extremely weak and exhausted, hardly able to hold her head up during our visit. When I got home after visiting I phoned Christine and left a message saying I was very concerned as mum appeared to be getting worse and yet the meds had not been increased. She rung me shortly after to say that she had gone to see mum this morning with Dr. Mehta and he had increased the meds. I said they definitely hadn't been increased as I had spoken to the pharmicist who had come to check all mums meds. By this time Christine had finished for the day and said she would check it out in the morning. At 6pm the phone went and it was Christine to say she'd just been up on the ward and had spoken to the senior registrar and mum low sodium meds were now doubled up as requested by Dr Mehta.
Tonight at visiting mum was still very confused. She told me someone had shaved her head today and did I know why. She went on to inform me that Billy, her brother, had ordered it! Although mum was still confused she seemed less groggy and when I asked her if she had had her red pill she informed me that she'd had 2! So 51 hours after admission her meds had been sorted out. When we left the hospital at 8pm she was looking confortable and was quite bright. Her nurse Juliette is lovely, as are all the other staff, and it is clear that the care mum is receiving now she is in the cancer ward is a hell of a lot better than in the assessment unit. She was clean and. although she had on a different nightie from last night it wasn't because she had wet herself but because they had changed her into a fresh one when she'd had a wash.
Mum is still not right but I came away from the hospital tonight feeling much more confident that she would be ok until I see her tomorrow. I feel having been to the hospice, and talked to the staff there, and finally getting the meds for the low sodium sorted that today was a much more productive day. I have also told my boss that I need to step back from work whilst I focus on mums care and she is absolutely fine with this. Tomorrow I will chase up the scan but tonight I feel that I might actually get a good nights sleep. Thanks to all of you who have been supporting me through this, I really appreciate it.
Finally, have you voted today?
http://www.refresheverything.com/armswideopenchildhoodcancerfoundation
Lets get better treatment for these kids with cancer. It will only take a couple of minutes and cost you nothing. If it gets in the top 2 there will be £250000 of funding for research. It's second at the moment but it would be nice to get to first. You can vote every day until September 30th. SO GET VOTING!!
