Caregiving

Wednesday, I took Mr. M for an outpatient procedure. During the procedure, I went to Walmart and got some groceries for him. (Don't know if I mentioned it, but he has decided against assisted living--again). After the procedure, they told him to eat soft food--not being specific about what that was. Mr. M, of course, wanted to go to Cracker Barrel. He had chicken and dumplings and applesauce--they're soft, right.

Thursday, I called Mr. M to wake him up for a doctor appointment. He told me he'd been throwing up all night. I advised him to take his nausea medicine--an hour later when I called back, he still hadn't. I knew the home health aide would be there soon (she had planned to help him get ready for the doctor appointment), so I waited for the doctor's office to open and called to see what they thought we should do. The nurse that called back said for him to take the nausea medicine and go easy on food. I went to his house to check on him before calling to cancel his appointment. The home health aide was there--she had just called the repairman because the heat was out (down to 5 degrees overnight). She helped Mr. M get cleaned up (though they skipped the shower as it was so cold in the house) and tucked back into bed while I fed the cats and made a few more phone calls. The home health nurse called and said she'd be there soon.

The general consensus of the three (or more?) nurses I talked to was that he should take the nausea medicine every so many hours, then gradually work up from a clear liquid to a BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet. It was determined that the Cracker Barrel meal, while soft, was more than his stomach on the aftereffects of sedation could take and that was the cause of the vomiting. They also said he would be weak from the medicine, no food, throwing up, etc. and shouldn't be left alone. I called the lady that comes and cooks and does light housekeeping, when she can, and she said she could come over for a few hours in the afternoon.

I called M and asked him to bring our space heater to help warm Mr. M's room while waiting for the repairman. The repairman arrived about 10:30 and left about noon. Two fuses and two sensors were bad and had to be replaced. Things warmed up rapidly after it was fixed.

Ms. L, the lady mentioned above, arrived a bit before 2:00 with Gatorade, Sprite, and applesauce. I caught her up to speed and then went to get a few more groceries for his ammended diet. The physical therapist arrived just as I was leaving. I got a banana, some pudding, some chicken broth, instant rice, and some cat food (for the cat, not Mr. M). I stopped by the house for a few minutes to check e-mail (plans in the works for a Pathfinder lock-in), then returned to Mr. M's. He was feeling much better--was sitting up in his recliner--looked better. He had had some Gatorade, a cracker, some nausea medicine. Ms. L and I kept pushing food and drink in small quantities for about another hour to see if he would be ok. Ms. L had to leave so she could be home before dark--I stayed for about another hour--fed the cats, gave Pepper her medicine, shut the window over the cat door to keep the cold out and the cats in, turned on lights so he wouldn't fall, gave him his evening meds and then left.