12/9/05 2:50pm
Hey Y'all,

Happy Holiday's to all of you.

Sorry it has been so long since an update. All was good until last Thursday, Dec 1, 05. I was at the house about 3:30pm and Mom was looking ok. Liz had given her an enema at 3pm because she was having some constipation issues. She had a little movement before I got there. Then all of a sudden Mom started to throw up a few times. Then she went non-responsive. Her blood pressure was something like 54/34 and pulse in the 30's.

I called 911 and they took her to the ER. After many hours, it turned out that she had a toxic level of one of her heart pills in her blood stream. What the MD told us was that she was dehydrated and the cardiac pills concentrated in her blood stream and made the pills work better. So that slowed her heart. In addition, she had a GI blockage.

The MD told me that alot of her cardiac pills are calicum blockers and the muscles take calcium to work. She also said that the GI track is a large muscle, so that the calcium blockers from the heart meds also slow down the GI tract, causing constipation.

So I did check and didn't overmedicate her with her pills, I was worried about that. Mom was admitted to the hospital. The overmedication thing has resolved itself by just not giving her that med for a few days. The constipation thing is still ongoing. They have done a few cat scans etc to check on the progress of that. And she had a bladder infection.

The newest thing is that she has aspirated some food and now has as aspiration pneumonia. They are treating her with more antibiotics and breathing treatments. I will let everyone know how she is doing. I know this is a bit sketchy, but I have been busy at work and running back and forth to the hospital has Anna and I pooped.

For now she is in the hospital and doing ok, still has the constipation and still has pneumonia, bladder infection is better and the heart issue is better. So we are 1/2 the way there.

Love and hugs to all,

Mary