Friday, January 28, 2005
Today turned out to be an unexpected wash.
About 0900 this morning I felt suddenly nauseated. The whole bit, including a violent regurgitation of my much 0630 breakfast of two pieces of toasted multi-grain bread with butter and Cinnamon and an unusually small and light cup of coffee (for me...but, my stomach had already been sending signals and at about 0815 I took a Zantac, just to settle it).
Mom wasn't up and I wasn't into getting her up so I dragged a futon, pillow and blanket in Mom's room and dozed on her floor, continuing to feel pretty nauseated, from about 0930 until she awoke me, much to my surprise, at 1420. I guess I zonked out.
I was feeling better, able, at least, to stay on my feet while bathing her, prepare breakfast, do all the stuff I normally do some hours earlier than today. She, though, was bleeding from the urinary tract, obviously another UTI.
She was eating by 1530. I was on my way to the pharmacy to have the Rx for Levaquin filled and stop by the lab to pick up a copy of the lab results that they still hadn't sent. Interesting, it seems that the FNP wrote the Rx directions for 250 mg/1/day x 10 but the quantity was written for 14. The pharmacist speculated that the extra four are to get her started again, should the pharmacy be closed for some reason or unable to fill the Rx the same day its ordered. Apparently this is a fairly common practice. Bless, I say, bless that FNP once again, please.
"She'll have more UTI's now."
I guess so. And, frankly, I think Levaquin is the only antibiotic that does the trick for her. So, I'm hoping that we won't have to renew this prescription for awhile.
Mom has been thrilled with the extra sleep and is, in fact, back in for a "nap" as I write. I am becoming less uneasy about her naps, which is not the same as saying I am becoming easier with her naps. It's just that, well, now I know. Now I know.
Today was clear and warm, what I saw of it. The morning was crisp. That I remember. We're supposed to get two days of rain/snow mix, maybe some sleet (I finally identified sleet this year, we had some a couple of weeks ago). I hope we do. That'll make for a nice weekend. I might bake. I've got chicken and lots of vegetables...maybe a stock of chicken pot pies.
I have no idea what caused me to be so ill this morning. It was weird for Mom. She even mentioned that she "couldn't remember the last time" I was sick. I did. It was in the fall of 1998 when I contracted the flu while our house was being painted. I ended up in the ER. At that time my mother drove. Three quarters of a year later I got blood poisoning from a cat bite (not one of ours). My mother was no longer driving. I was not out of commission, though, with the blood poisoning. I'd had it once before, recognized it immediately, spent a couple hours being given intravenous antibiotics in the hospital and was released. I remember, while I was sleeping whatever I had off, having fitful dreams about what would happen if I was out of commission.
There wasn't any damage today that couldn't be repaired. Mom did marinate in her apparently infected urine for an unusual length of time (the Detrol hasn't yet kicked in at night). But, I was truly unable to be upright for a couple of hours, there.
I was pleased that I instinctively decided to lay down in Mom's bedroom. That way, when she awoke, she'd have an inkling that things were a little different...and, as well, I'd awaken to her first rustlings. She was a little surprised to see me, but I was no less surprised that we both awoke at 1420.
I noticed, last night, that her urine was cloudy so I wasn't really surprised to see the evidence of UTI today. I remembered something the FNP said about the Cipro and Augmentin not working before...that the Levaquin probably came along and swept "everything else" up, that it was the right antibiotic for Mom. I can remember many times thinking, and, I believe, vocalizing in this journal, that I do not, I repeat do not want her on multiple doses of antibiotics for the rest of her life. But, it seems, she might be on them more frequently than I'd like. The FNP gave me a thorough explanation of the physiology of the Ancient Urinary Tract: Including such factors as narrower bladder neck, so stuff gets caught up there; much less elastic urethra, which allows easier access to the environment; she did not disavow that the catheterizations are partially to blame. She did not tell me to stop cleaning her, but indicated that this will not stop urinary tract infections.
Now, I know. Shaking head. Closing eyes. It is a relief to know.
Mom wasn't up and I wasn't into getting her up so I dragged a futon, pillow and blanket in Mom's room and dozed on her floor, continuing to feel pretty nauseated, from about 0930 until she awoke me, much to my surprise, at 1420. I guess I zonked out.
I was feeling better, able, at least, to stay on my feet while bathing her, prepare breakfast, do all the stuff I normally do some hours earlier than today. She, though, was bleeding from the urinary tract, obviously another UTI.
She was eating by 1530. I was on my way to the pharmacy to have the Rx for Levaquin filled and stop by the lab to pick up a copy of the lab results that they still hadn't sent. Interesting, it seems that the FNP wrote the Rx directions for 250 mg/1/day x 10 but the quantity was written for 14. The pharmacist speculated that the extra four are to get her started again, should the pharmacy be closed for some reason or unable to fill the Rx the same day its ordered. Apparently this is a fairly common practice. Bless, I say, bless that FNP once again, please.
"She'll have more UTI's now."
I guess so. And, frankly, I think Levaquin is the only antibiotic that does the trick for her. So, I'm hoping that we won't have to renew this prescription for awhile.
Mom has been thrilled with the extra sleep and is, in fact, back in for a "nap" as I write. I am becoming less uneasy about her naps, which is not the same as saying I am becoming easier with her naps. It's just that, well, now I know. Now I know.
Today was clear and warm, what I saw of it. The morning was crisp. That I remember. We're supposed to get two days of rain/snow mix, maybe some sleet (I finally identified sleet this year, we had some a couple of weeks ago). I hope we do. That'll make for a nice weekend. I might bake. I've got chicken and lots of vegetables...maybe a stock of chicken pot pies.
I have no idea what caused me to be so ill this morning. It was weird for Mom. She even mentioned that she "couldn't remember the last time" I was sick. I did. It was in the fall of 1998 when I contracted the flu while our house was being painted. I ended up in the ER. At that time my mother drove. Three quarters of a year later I got blood poisoning from a cat bite (not one of ours). My mother was no longer driving. I was not out of commission, though, with the blood poisoning. I'd had it once before, recognized it immediately, spent a couple hours being given intravenous antibiotics in the hospital and was released. I remember, while I was sleeping whatever I had off, having fitful dreams about what would happen if I was out of commission.
There wasn't any damage today that couldn't be repaired. Mom did marinate in her apparently infected urine for an unusual length of time (the Detrol hasn't yet kicked in at night). But, I was truly unable to be upright for a couple of hours, there.
I was pleased that I instinctively decided to lay down in Mom's bedroom. That way, when she awoke, she'd have an inkling that things were a little different...and, as well, I'd awaken to her first rustlings. She was a little surprised to see me, but I was no less surprised that we both awoke at 1420.
I noticed, last night, that her urine was cloudy so I wasn't really surprised to see the evidence of UTI today. I remembered something the FNP said about the Cipro and Augmentin not working before...that the Levaquin probably came along and swept "everything else" up, that it was the right antibiotic for Mom. I can remember many times thinking, and, I believe, vocalizing in this journal, that I do not, I repeat do not want her on multiple doses of antibiotics for the rest of her life. But, it seems, she might be on them more frequently than I'd like. The FNP gave me a thorough explanation of the physiology of the Ancient Urinary Tract: Including such factors as narrower bladder neck, so stuff gets caught up there; much less elastic urethra, which allows easier access to the environment; she did not disavow that the catheterizations are partially to blame. She did not tell me to stop cleaning her, but indicated that this will not stop urinary tract infections.
Now, I know. Shaking head. Closing eyes. It is a relief to know.
