It hasn’t been a good week.
Last weekend, my Mom became nauseous and…well, let’s not go into further graphic detail except to say that was hardly the end of it, not by a long shot. By Tuesday night she was in the hospital and they discharged her today. There’s only one problem: She’s still sick. Mom is close to 300 pounds and she can barely walk so getting her up a flight of stairs to her bedroom took my brother Todd and I the better part of two hours. I’m no doctor but there’s no way in hell I can see that she should have been discharged from the hospital in the condition she’s in.
I’m very upset with the level of care Mom got at St. Peter’s Hospital. Not that the doctors, nurses, and everyone else didn’t physically take good care of her while she was there, but the information flow leaves a lot to be desired. No one seemed to have any answers when my brothers and I asked about her condition. No one gave us any instructions on how to care for her at home. We couldn’t even get a conversation with her doctor.
Basically, the hospital discharged her while she’s still a complete invalid, gave us no help in understanding her condition or how to care for her, and now, because it’s the weekend, there’s no one even there to talk to. She was sent home with a prescription for a Visiting Nurse and physical therapy but right now we have no idea when that will start or even when we’ll be able to talk to someone to arrange it. St. Peter’s just turfed her out with seemingly little if any concern for the rest of her recovery, and this is a woman with excellent insurance.
So right now, it’s just me here, completely stressed out and unable to sleep. My back is on fire from having to half-carry her up that flight of stairs but I can’t take a pain pill because if I do I’ll sleep so deeply I may not hear her if she wakes and needs me.
The house stinks of shit. I don’t know how to care for her. If she needs to get up to go to the bathroom, there’s no way I can possibly lift her myself.
I don’t know what the fuck to do and I'm scared.
