TPN

Okay, my goal is to not keep y'all out of the loop as long as I have information and an answer... I didn't have an answer that last month-long hiatus, which is why I didn't post anything. No point in getting everyone's emotions all pulled around, hopes up, then dash them; it's enough that mine and Brooke's lives are being thrown upside down.

So, Mom started on TPN on Saturday. TPN stands for Total Parenteral Nutrition. It basically has all the nutrients a body needs to stay alive. Mom had TPN when she was in ICU right after surgery, so I became a little familiar with it, because of my love for knowledge and ability to retain a majority of it. At that point, she was about 230 pounds, so the TPN had the basic nutrients and vitamins. This time, with her being 103 pounds, they've added fat lipids into it, I imagine to help prevent her from losing more weight.

So right now, after a refresher course, I'm Mom's nurse and care taker, except for blood draws for labs, and changing the needle in her port. The nurses that have come in have mentioned a few things to keep an eye on, so we'll be doing that. At this point, her infusion takes 24 hours per dose. That can be bumped down slowly, to make sure her body is taking it okay, but at this point, I don't see her getting down to a time frame that we'll be able to take her back into the infusion center where she's spent the last six years. I'm hoping that can change, because we love the nurses, they love us, and they know Mom, so they can give an opinion on her specific needs and history, not just what they see at that point. Mom and I are both bummed about this, but we'll still be keeping in touch with them, and hopefully visiting when we can. =)

It's kinda weird. I hate inflicting pain on Mom. I can't take a splinter out of her finger when it requires a needle to get it. And now I have to stick her every day to check her glucose. But this is what's necessary, so I'm going to do it.

Mom isn't the same as most of you remember her.

She's lucid most of the time, but she tends to be forgetful. She'll ask the same question multiple times a day, for many days in a row. She rests or sleeps a lot, although she's not sleeping as much as she was a couple weeks ago, so all this hydration is good for her. But I would say she sleeps about 18-20 hours/day. Since the first surgery three years ago, she had trouble reading and spelling. The theory is that she had a mini-stroke while she was in the hospital at some point, but there's no evidence of that in scans/CTs/MRIs/etc. Since she had the stint procedure, her eyesight has been funky, so reading and typing is even more difficult.

When she's not lucid, anything goes. We get asked all sorts of weird questions, she sleeps a lot more, and we have to do a lot more for her. She's also a lot more stubborn (let's face it, we all know she's stubborn/determined/however you want to phrase it... lol), because she doesn't realize she's not lucid. It's an interesting position to be put in. But as y'all know, Mom is more than worth it.

Brooke (my sister, for anyone who doesn't know) was up for two weeks. She left this last weekend because she has to finish up this semester of school, get things straightened out in San Diego, and figure out what she can do with work. In about a month, she plans on taking a semester off from school, coming up here to help me out (thank God), and to spend time with Mom. My sister rawks!

I'm not much one to ask for help, in case y'all haven't figured that out yet. ;) But with Mom in this condition, I don't feel safe leaving her alone at all. We're using a baby monitor even, so when we're not in the same room, I can keep tabs on her. This makes getting out of the house basically impossible, and sometimes even doing things in the house quite difficult. So if anyone is available for the next month to help me out, it would be much appreciated.
- outside errands would be grocery store and pharmacy (that's what I can think of for now)
- inside errands would be vacuuming and dusting mainly (I HATE doing those)
- around the yard would be tending to the vegetable garden, watering potted plants (under covered areas), pulling weeds, dead heading and pruning roses/other plants (you MUST know what you're doing, Mom is VERY particular about her roses)
- bringing ready-to-heat/eat food for me (not quite as important, but would be nice)
- coming over just to hang out or keep an eye/ear out for Mom (I just do stuff and have the monitor nearby so I can hear her) so I can get a break and get out of the house... nighttime/overnight would be beyond awesome for this.

Please call the house if you're able to do any of this stuff, it's appreciated more than you may know. If you don't have the house phone number, please send an email to the celebrate_pat@yahoo.com email address, and I'll give it to you there... I don't want to post that kind of contact information online like this. Thank you again, and keep prayers for comfort and peace for Mom going please. God bless.