Family Emergency
 

For those who might not see my admin message, my sister is in some serious medical trouble and I'm packing up right now to make a 3 hr drive to the hospital she is at. A brother is there already, but I'm on my way.

I haven't gotten golf stats in- which I've had to do manually lately. Because of that, I may not get them in at all. Hockey and hoops don't take long....

..........but family first

and wow....only 30 minutes later, better news.....enough improvement that I won't be making that drive tonight and my brother was basically told to go home and rest as well

Go be with your sister. If she was in a situation where they called on an emergency basis, you should go. A couple of years ago, I saw my Mom at Halloween, she was 1,100 miles away. She was normal in her dementia. At Thanksgiving, her sister who had not seen her in several years said she was confused. We thought that normal; but it was not. We lost her three weeks later. Given that you have family on the ground I hope that you are well informed. I do not know the physical issues so cannot give you direction. But if things are anywhere near life threatening, drive the three damned hours. I drove 18 hours to find my mother on her deathbed. I made it and am so very thankful. If you have 10 hours this weekend - screw Jockstocs - you can be there and back with 4 hours with your sister. We are there with you.

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While I was packing to leave, my brother called back...I expected the worst at that point, but it was improvement. Enough improvement that I'm not making that drive, at least not until morning, and my brother was basically told to go home and rest.

Still a serious situation, however. But I'm still home and will do stats!

Glad to hear not as urgent as thought.....prayers for your sister

It's still not a good situation, but it turned from a 'not sure she'll make it thru the night' situation to a fairly stable, but far from out of the woods situation. She was airlifted 90 miles to a larger hospital and taken straight to surgery for 2 hours and was unresponsive after.

When I heard my brother that was there (who is more like our dad than me or my other 3 brothers in the emotions department) audibly shaken by the first report I got, that's when I started packing and made my post here. But while on the phone with another brother, he called back, I feared the worst, but he said she woke up, responded when asked to move her toes, and recognized him.

Just talked to the ICU nurse and she had a decent night, tho still on a respirator and still with infections to fight. My trip there is just a when vs a whether at this point.

Prayers always welcome and appreciated.

Wishing for the best and continued improvement. 🙏

Progress.....off the ventilator today, so likely getting her first nutrition in 4 days. Not out of ICU, but the most positive step yet.

:clap:

Progress took a hit- dye tests show she still has a leak and has to go back into surgery, which isn't a good thing when you're already in ICU from a prior one.

She made it thru her 2nd surgery, where they took some stomach and intestine and put in a feeding tube. Such a helpless feeling, but at least she's unlikely to have much, if any memory of these days. 3 surgeries in the past month, since she had a knee replaced a month ago as well.

I'm not the first to have wondered about a difference in care for someone on Medicaid. But they choppered her 50 miles vs taking her by ambulance for her first surgery, and seem to be doing all they would for anyone since. If there's a question it's whether they missed the leak repaired yesterday in the first surgery...or if prior doctors missed diagnosing diverticulitis.

third opinion and twenty years to get diverticulitis remedied for me.
originally diagnosed Crohn's...then hodgekins lymphona (including colostomy bag)....finally an intern caught it.

Great to hear all is getting fixed now :)
you sick that long it helps one appreciate when they are healthy again.

I hear ya....don't know it first hand, but second more than a few times

yes, thankfully she appears on a positive track...having a quart of bile removed certainly helps...got the ventilator back out yesterday. In some pain, has a feeding tube, likely in the hospital at least another week....but may get out of ICU today..........I'm making the 200 mile drive again this morning

Geesh beast.....wasn't aware you went through that. I have been hospitalized 6 or 7 times with bad diverticulitis attacks. The VA (3 cheers for single payer healthcare....NOT) only felt it necessary to administer antibiotics and continued to send me home each time until I demanded a surgery consult. Ended up taking an extreme amount of my "plumbing" in a full blown sigmoid colectomy procedure. Lost almost 50 lbs and took a LOOOONG time to recuperate. All this while battling prostate cancer at the same time.

A :cheers: to you for recovery!

That progress had a set back on Friday due to a breathing issue, so back in went the ventilator and back to ICU....then a cat scan indicated a couple minor leaks they hoped they could manage......this morning the most dire call as they asked for consent for a third surgery, basically said it's either that or we're close to comfort care....

I've been the contact responsible for giving consent for all this, but for this one I wanted backup and called brothers. I didn't expect they'd think any different than me, but felt better telling the surgeon yes after the calls. I spent the morning thinking she'd never make it thru another surgery.

...she proved me wrong. Still a long long way to go, but she survived it, lost a bit more stomach and a few inches of colon and is now on dialysis...but made it thru. Now we just have to hope this all hasn't weakened her so much her body can't rebound.