Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Yet Another Leg Collapse
Movement for 9/24/08:
- I awoke at 0630 to make sure I was ready for the Construction Company when they arrived to do more work. At about 0640 I peaked in on Mom. She was sitting on the floor against her bed, her underwear around her knees. I asked her what she was doing there. She said she was "cleaning out [my bureau] drawers." She claimed she didn't fall, that she "put" herself down there. I suspect that she may very well have attempted to get up and open a drawer for cleaning, then collapsed to the floor. She was not hurt and fairly mobile, as it turns out; so much so that when I returned from calling Hospice and having them contact the non-emergent paramedics, she had turned herself to her knees facing the bed and was clamoring to get herself back up on the bed; sort of like she was leaning over her bed praying. The Hospice Nurse recommended that I get her back on the floor, but that actually seemed impossible. The paramedics got her squared away in bed, though, with no problem. She seemed fine; no new bruises. She has, though, through the first half of her day, continued to have significant problems with transferring and her lower legs continue to be swollen; not hugely, but significant for her. Despite this, I ended up giving her 500 mg acetaminophen with her breakfast, just to keep any problems at bay. Today, needless to say, has been and will continue to be a full wheelchair day. I'll report more later.
- Hard to say whether this evening was "better" or "worse" than this morning. She had so much difficulty moving her legs once she stood from the bed after her nap for transfer to the wheel chair that I, literally, took on her entire weight and "moved" her to and lowered her onto the chair. However, in the bathroom she was better able to stand, long enough for me to, both, remove her underwear before she sat on the toilet and pull up her underwear before she transferred to the chair. We decided to forgo any kind of slacks and opt for the lap blanket she received from the rehab facility upon "graduation". She also decided she didn't want to try transferring to the rocker, so she spent the evening in her wheelchair, which was fine with me.
At bedtime she had some difficulty with holding a standing position and transferring, but nothing out of the way for any evening when she might be very tired. - There was, as well, within the space of the few hours she was up in the evening a startling development of feet and leg edema, the likes of which I haven't seen on Mom since 9/2002 when she was first diagnosed with chronic anemia. I decided to administer 20 mg of furosemide before she went to bed. I usually give her 10 mg "just a whiff", as the visiting Hospice RN characterized it this afternoon, but I felt that the swiftness and extent of the edema required 20 mg.
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