The ER

Thursday brought about a new experience - spending time in the ER. I know my brother John had quite a few of these adventures and I'm appreciating his care of them these past few years with a deeper understanding! It started while taking Dad to the Sports Medicine clinic to try and get him some relief for his feet. He has extreme athritis in his left foot and says he can "hear the bones crunching." We came away with several options for topical pain relief and I'm delighted to say that the lidocain patch is effective (although we can't use it all the time). While at the clinic I noticed how desperately he needed a pedicure and so we went for that next. Mom was increasingly agitated during these appointments so after I fed them dinner I finally called the "on call" doctor who sent me to the ER. I was suspecting and it was confirmed that she had a urinary tract infection. UTI's can cause much confusion in the elderly and that's what clued me in. After a couple of painful procedures and an IV drip of antibiotic, they wrote us up a prescription and sent us all home. I filled her oral prescription the next morning and she seemed to be doing much better on Friday. Mark came to hang out with Mom and Dad while I took the evening off to go to dinner and a conference with a friend. So far so good.

Saturday she was pretty worn out so spent more time sleeping but nothing was too unusual. I had purchased an intercom system that day so Dad could page me when he needs me. That way I could be out in the yard working and know he wouldn't have to walk to get my attention. I also want him to be able to page me in the night. It was a good thing because he ended up using it on Sunday morning when Mom got delusional. She went to bed early (6:30!) and I worried that she might not sleep through the night. When she feels woozy there is nothing she wants to do other than lie down flat on her bed. So off to bed she went (although I did tell her she couldn't bother Dad if she woke up in the middle of the night :0).

She woke up convinced that two men were in the other room, talking about her. I tried to tell her that she must've been dreaming but she got really agitated at that and, with heavy disgust, told me to "just go back to bed and to sleep!" She looked at her water bottle and thought that someone was trying to poison her. She asked me to go talk to Mark in the next room (although he wasn't!). I did finally manage to calm her down and get her back to sleep but it made me wonder if the infection was not clearing up. After talking to another "on call" doctor I took her back to the ER. This time we spent over 5 hours while they ran almost every test imaginable. The final evaluation was by a mental health professional who offered inpatient psychiatric treatment as one of her options. I declined that one.

She was completely worn out again yesterday but when she finally did get up at 1:30, she was so much more like her old self. We had a nice evening together and they didn't go to bed until 10pm. I think that perhaps now she's getting over the effects of the infection (she seemed to be doing much better when I gave her meds this morning.)

The concern for me is that there always seems to be a crisis on Sunday morning that keeps me from taking them to church. Last week I got to go because Bekah was home but this week we all had to miss. I know how crucial it is for my overall health to be able to worship so I'm convinced that this is a spiritual attack. The first week when I made Mom go, she was so glad afterwards and in such good spirits. My prayer is going to be focused on Saturday night and Sunday morning so that we can all go to church. I want them to keep their focus on God and His loving care for them. That is the reason that I'm available to them and in order to keep us all in balance we need to keep our eyes on Him. I welcome all the prayers I can get for this challenge. "Our fight isn't against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of darkness." Eph 6:12 Thank you for your prayers.