Ma settled in to Coronary Care Unit.....she was attached to monitors, had an IV infusion line, not for fluids as these were restricted to 1 litre per day, but for the administration of diuretics....stuff that makes you pee.
Because she was on strict fluid balance a bladder catheter was in place.
Monday night the drugs created a very low heart rate....between 30 and 35 beats per minute.
Ma felt terrible and it created a bit of a flurry of activity in the CCU.
Anyway they got her stable but it meant that she was unfit to have an angiogram on the Tuesday.
Her drugs were tweaked, she was given oxygen and she began to see the light.....I don't mean head towards the light.
The staff in the CCU were absolutely brilliant.
Things would look up for a day and then we would have another bit of a nosedive....but the staff said that this was how it goes.
I have to say that I really thought that Ma might not come home.....it is difficult to admit this, but it is what I thought.
My sister in Brisbane was talking about taking some long service leave and booking a flight over here.....even though I had not admitted my fears to her.
I told her to hang fire....to wait and see how things went.
Friday saw Ma transferred to B18.....and a bed with a window and a view.She must be better because she grumbled.....about the food, the impersonal atmosphere...being a long way from the lavvy(in her terms...seeing as she gets breathless on exertion)....the fact that no one in her bay spoke English.
The consultant saw Ma on Friday and asked how she felt about the angiogram......she said that she would prefer to continue with the medical treatment.
It may be possible that Ma will come home on Monday.....she is going to need careful supervision, a bit more help.....but we are happy to do whatever is needed.
I have been today and she was weighed this morning and she has put a little over a pound on.....so,she is back on restricted fluids....and there was me bearing gifts of freshly squeezed orange juice and a salmon and cucumber butty on healthy brown bread(something else she isn't really keen on).
We take each day as it comes.....and hope that each one might be just a smidgen better than the last, but we are aware that recovery is a bit like a drunken man going up a hill.....two steps forward and one step back.
Watch this space....I'm sure there will be more!
Because she was on strict fluid balance a bladder catheter was in place.
Monday night the drugs created a very low heart rate....between 30 and 35 beats per minute.
Ma felt terrible and it created a bit of a flurry of activity in the CCU.
Anyway they got her stable but it meant that she was unfit to have an angiogram on the Tuesday.
Her drugs were tweaked, she was given oxygen and she began to see the light.....I don't mean head towards the light.
The staff in the CCU were absolutely brilliant.
Things would look up for a day and then we would have another bit of a nosedive....but the staff said that this was how it goes.
I have to say that I really thought that Ma might not come home.....it is difficult to admit this, but it is what I thought.
My sister in Brisbane was talking about taking some long service leave and booking a flight over here.....even though I had not admitted my fears to her.
I told her to hang fire....to wait and see how things went.
Friday saw Ma transferred to B18.....and a bed with a window and a view.She must be better because she grumbled.....about the food, the impersonal atmosphere...being a long way from the lavvy(in her terms...seeing as she gets breathless on exertion)....the fact that no one in her bay spoke English.
The consultant saw Ma on Friday and asked how she felt about the angiogram......she said that she would prefer to continue with the medical treatment.
It may be possible that Ma will come home on Monday.....she is going to need careful supervision, a bit more help.....but we are happy to do whatever is needed.
I have been today and she was weighed this morning and she has put a little over a pound on.....so,she is back on restricted fluids....and there was me bearing gifts of freshly squeezed orange juice and a salmon and cucumber butty on healthy brown bread(something else she isn't really keen on).
We take each day as it comes.....and hope that each one might be just a smidgen better than the last, but we are aware that recovery is a bit like a drunken man going up a hill.....two steps forward and one step back.
Watch this space....I'm sure there will be more!