My mother was admitted to the hospital early this morning, with severe abdominal pain. At first the pain meds helped, but then it became less effective.
She’s had three kinds of painkillers, including morphine, yet her pain is getting worse.
I was with her from about 1:00PM, to 4:45PM, after being at work for almost nine hours. I’m going back later. Mom is a retired RN herself, and her good friend(they were in nursing school together) is with her now. My sisters, who both work nights, were there earlier in the day.
Her pastor paid a visit, and I think he helped but after he left she rested a little, then the pain started. She’s had a ton of drugs but nothing was helping much when I left.
I think I’ll go back in about two hours. My middle sister goes to work at 9:00 and she may be able to stop by again. Sis is a pharmacist, and the hospital she works at is only a few block from where my mom is.
I’m so worried, Mom has never had an illnes like this before. The doctors think is may be a bowel obstruction, but it’s possible to find out for sure they’ll have to do surgery.
Thanks everyone. I’m home from the hospital for the evening, I’ll go back tomorrow morning, at 8:30 0r 9:00.
All that is currently known is that there is some kind of bowel problem. Mom’s pain is at a lower level now, although she still isn’t really comfortable. For such a slight woman the stuff they gave her should have knocked her out.
My cousin is an RN, she’s spending the night with my mom. Can’t do better than that, a fully qualified nurse that can just hang out in the room.
I truly appreciate all the responses. Writing here helps.
((((Baker and BMom)))) Hopefully the doctors will get back to you with good news. Spoilering the rest of this post for being really TMI.
[spoiler] As far as bowel problems there are a few things it could be but the most common is severe constipation. I know that sounds completely crazy but I went through it myself a couple of weeks ago. You would not believe the agony it can cause.
I have a large hernia in my right side and my intestines are hanging out through it. It was most likely caused by the bile leak I had after my second liver surgery last year. The one that caused the liver abscess that tried to take me out. There are several smaller hernias near it. They plan to close all of them with one large mesh implant that will cover my right side and cross the mid line a bit. The surgery (my 16th) is sometime in the next month or so. My consultation with the second surgeon who will be in the room is this coming Wednesday. I’m working on losing 15-20 lbs. to make sure there’s room to push everything back in.
I woke up one morning shaking, sweating, and vomiting. The pain was so bad I could barely move from my bed to the bathroom and back. I couldn’t eat or sleep. Oxycodone did not help me at all. It felt like my belly was full of knives. I had just gone through a CT scan to make sure I didn’t have a blockage and I was still passing very small amounts. I had no idea what was wrong and would have gone to the ER but my Mom was in the hospital already and there was nobody else to take care of the house or anything. Then I noticed that the intestinal bulge had gotten much larger (normally 8-10 inches across, it was more 12-15) and was very hard, like it was full of rocks.
One doctor had warned me that it was possible to form a backup that wasn’t a complete blockage in the bulge. I called and was told to take A LOT of laxatives and apply heat and very gentle massage to the bulge. It started working right away and it took about four days to finally clear. Those four days were incredibly bad but I was told I was only in real trouble if I stopped passing anything at all.
I’ll have to continue normal amounts of laxatives, heat, and massage until the surgery to make sure I don’t end up like that again. While I was asking questions I found out that it’s not unusual for people to underestimate the kind of pain something like that can cause. They get several people a year that think they must be dying only to find out that it’s one of the “normal” things that can happen to the human body. I think I’ve voiced my opinion about that kind of normal before. [/spoiler]
You have my sincere best wishes that it turns out to be a fairly easy fix like mine. You and your Mom have been through a lot of stress recently and that can have all kinds of strange effects on your inner workings. May you both find peace and comfort in this difficult time.
{{{Baker and Mom}}} healing thoughts and prayers headed out. I hope she’s feeling better today.
From The Book of Common Prayer
Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and
relieve your sick servant , and give your power of healing to
those who minister to her needs, that she may be strengthened in
her weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
She had her surgery. It was three or four hours later than planned, as a couple of ER traumas bumped her.
The surgery went fast and quite smoothly. Mom will still be in the hospital for a while as they want to do a CT scan on her right lung. They said a chest xray had seen a “shadow” on the lung. It could mean a lot of things, but first she needs to have the abdominal thing settled and cleared up.
I’m home for a minute to grab the dog and go do laundry at mom’s house, bring in her mail and papers and such. I’ll probably spend the night at the hospital.
If I read the OP right, the surgery was exploratory, to see what was going on, right? Did you get any feedback on that yet?
In any case…progress is progress. She (and you) are still in my thoughts.
So, how’s the food at the hospital? I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality in the cafeteria at the one my parents go to for all their surgeries.
There are several smaller hernias near it. They plan to close all of them with one large mesh implant that will cover my right side and cross the mid line a bit. The surgery (my 16th) is sometime in the next month or so. My consultation with the second surgeon who will be in the room is this coming Wednesday. I’m working on losing 15-20 lbs. to make sure there’s room to push everything back in.