Feeling uneasy--my "nurse" radar is going off

[bumbershoot]

She says the doctor's office called and told her to start taking a baby aspirin every day. WTH?? NOnononononono, no baby aspirin, mom! Did the doctor tell you that? No, some "nurse" did.

Aughhhh.

My MIL is like that, and there's a language barrier. Even if we get my BIL in the room, who can translate b/c he's fully bilingual (my husband isn't b/c he was born in America, his dad wasn't OK with him really learning Korean, and his mom spoke "Konglish" instead of just ONE language in the house), he has filters galore, and it's impossible to get the true answers.

MIL spent a week at the hospital after a very dramatic and fast illness (likely food poisoning, they finally figured out), the MD who released her told her a specific dose of baby aspirin to take, and she really really wanted to ignore what she was told. I had to buy the stuff for her (a whole buck) so she'd at least take it home.

I talked with her doctor's receptionist after she was released to tell them that she had to get her potassium checked...they released her even though they weren't happy with the level...found out later the doc said "it was food poisoning, you don't need it checked"...even though she has a heart condition and had been *extremely* ill for 2 days (we had to have the EMTs take her to the hospital, called them from the road after several people called us telling us she sounded wrong).

So sometimes even MDs don't listen.


OH, and about the doc being out of town...my best friend nearly died when a fill-in MD put her on naproxen...she's deathly allergic to it. Now...I remain slightly thankful for that situation, because a year or two later as I started having crazy symptoms, I finally realized it was the naproxen I was taking...she and I are both deathly allergic to it, it turns out.

Fill-in docs MUST read the charts!

Hence, her blood sugar when she does check it is often 200-300. She does take Metformin but she doesn't eat properly, other than she's given up cupcakes.

Holy...if hubby gets up to 110 he's having huge, dramatic tantrums and screaming (our marriage was SO much fun before he was diagnosed and changed his diet entirely, let me tell you). I cannot even imagine what that level must feel like in her body and mind. That alone makes me think she's not making logical, adult decisions.

I'd find out her doctor's name, call, and you know the deal, you can give them information but they can't blah blah blah. I'd "tell on her" very quickly, and hopefully you can trust that doc.

She thinks everything is valuable because its old. It's not. Every item has a story, which she must tell in minute detail. It's exhausting.

On a different note, start writing down the stories, or have her tape them. Type it out and attach it to the item or to a picture of the item.

I inherited a ton of stuff that means very little to me, I'm not yet ready to get rid of it, but I sure do wish I knew the stories behind it.

He eventually told us he had been taking Aleve daily for "toe pain", think he had some nerve damage. It was eating through his stomach. They had to take him off Coumadin to treat the ulcer, but since he was inpatient they had him on Heparin instead.

So it was the Aleve that caused the ulcer that caused the problem? Man that naproxen...


OP I wish you luck! Bleeding is terrifying...that's how my mom (55 yo) died...on bloodthinners, in remission from leukemia, knew to be careful with sharp objects...then had 4 odd and new symptoms, and was laughed at by the transfusion people, the other office staff just shrugged their shoulders...yeah, turns out that undiagnosed bleeding ulcers don't play well with bloodthinners. Bleeding is terrifying.

 

[minkydog]

Aughhhh.

OH, and about the doc being out of town...my best friend nearly died when a fill-in MD put her on naproxen...she's deathly allergic to it. Now...I remain slightly thankful for that situation, because a year or two later as I started having crazy symptoms, I finally realized it was the naproxen I was taking...she and I are both deathly allergic to it, it turns out.

Fill-in docs MUST read the charts!



Holy...if hubby gets up to 110 he's having huge, dramatic tantrums and screaming (our marriage was SO much fun before he was diagnosed and changed his diet entirely, let me tell you). I cannot even imagine what that level must feel like in her body and mind. That alone makes me think she's not making logical, adult decisions.

I'd find out her doctor's name, call, and you know the deal, you can give them information but they can't blah blah blah. I'd "tell on her" very quickly, and hopefully you can trust that doc.

I had an anyphylactic reaction to Advil about 5 years ago right in the New Orleans airport. 911 and everything. I can't tell you how many times I have given my medical history and had doctors or nurses say, "That's very rare. You might have had some upset stomach, but it wasn't anaphylaxis." Uh, yes it was. And for your info, allergy to NSAIDS and aspirin is NOT rare. Argh!

You know the weird thing about her blood sugars is that she was very aggressive about monitoring my stepdads BS. He didn't take anything for it, but his always ran 300-350. He hated vegetables, other than baked beans and potatoes, so his diet was really terrible. He was Russian: lots of smoked sausages, ham, keilbasa, etc. so it's a surprise to me that now that she has diabetes she's just denying it.

I know Mother is depressed. She has told me as much. When I go down there I'm going to look at all her meds and I think I'll call her doctor about increasing her antidepressant. I'd suggest something for anxiety, because i think that's at work here also, but I don't really want to add something that might make her sleepy since she's so fatigued. Next week one of the things I want to accomplish is taking down her medical history, doctors names & numbers, current meds, allergies, etc. Look at the advance directive(and if she doesn't have one, I'll get that too.) And I want to make a list of all her close friends, the vet, the bank, the dog sitter, and her computer passwords, et al. I"m planning to make a booklet to keep at the house and copies to each of the kids so that in an emergency we can have that info at our fingertips very quickly.

See, this is the down-side of living far away from your parents. It's great when you're young and making your way in the world,but when they get older and more frail it's really hard to keep your finger on what's going on when you're not there.

 

[booger73]

How is she doing?

 

[HM]

Minkydog--
How are things going at your mother's?