So, the last time I updated everyone on my mom, we believed that she had a "dysfunction" called Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction. Like with every other diagnosis, the doctor was wrong.
We decided to give her Gastric Bypass surgeon a call, and he decided to see her. He read through all of her symptoms, and said "I can tell you exactly what is going on just by these symptoms. You have a low protein level."
He gave her two options. She could either try and get the protein in her body, herself, or she could have what is called an NG tube, or, nasogastric tube which is a narrow bore tube passed into the stomach via the nose.
So, it goes up the nose, down the throat, into the stomach to the top of her intestines. She would to have this in for a month or possibly longer.
She tried to get the protein in her body herself, but when she would eat, sometimes it would come back up, or she was just not getting enough protein at all. A normal adult woman is supposed to have 46g of protein a day, but since she had a Gastric Bypass Surgery, she is supposed to have around 125g a day.
In the past month and a half, she has probably fallen 5-10 times. My brother is living with my mother to help keep her safe. She was so weak, that she would go to the bathroom, and had to have my brother pick her up from the toilet because she couldn't get up. There have been a few times that he hasn't been there, and she didn't take the cordless phone or her cellphone with her, and she ended up sleeping in the floor because she couldn't get up.
This last time was the final straw. One day, at the end of February, she went to get up, but she couldn't. My brother tried helping her up, but her knees kept buckling underneath her, and she ended up falling. My brother didn't even ask her if she wanted him to, but he called the ambulance, and she ended up in the hospital.
Last time she went to the hospital for pain, they rejected her. This time they hooked her up to an IV in her neck, and admitted her. She now has a catheter because she can't get up to use the bathroom.
Her doctor was trying to get a hold of her Gastric Bypass surgeon, and they said that they could put the NG tube in at our hospital instead of going two hours away to have it put in. She thought she was going to have it done the next day, but when she finally got to sleep that night, they came in and told her it was time.
The radiologist had to put the tube in three times, and finally they had to send her to another hospital that is about an hour away, because the radiologist didn't know what he was doing. They didn't even give her anything to numb the pain at our local hospital, but at the one that was an hour away, they gave her something. So, she had to have that tube put up her nose, down her throat, and into her stomach four times.
The next day, my mom called me and said that they were going to be sending her to Weaverville, which is an hour away, for physical therapy so she can do things for herself. The sound in her voice broke my heart. She sounded so depressed, and she sounded like she was about to cry.
I just got word as I was typing this, that my mother accidentally pulled her NG tube out last night. (3/4/15) They will now have to send her back to the hour away hospital to have it put in again for a fifth time. And she isn't going to get to go to Weaverville for her physical therapy just yet.
Like I said in the last blog entry, this isn't a pity me entry. Prayers and good thoughts and vibes would be very much appreciated. I usually have a lot of faith, but here lately, it seems like every one's prayers and good wishes aren't doing much. I honestly don't know what to do. My mom is dying. Her body is slowly wanting to shut itself down, and I am so scared that one day, she is going to fall asleep and not wake back up. I am going to go see her today around five. If there is any other news, I will post it.
Thank you all in advance. I love you all.
Koda
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