[clay]

This is great news my friend...up until the fall...but also good news is no broken bones.

Those are compression hose to prevent blood clots.....

Caring for an elder loved one is no easy feat with dementia thrown into the mix...but you are doing wonderfully well with being there for her...I am sure she appreciates you for that in her heart & is grateful for you....

Hang in there my friend....I am walking in spirit with you buddy....hugs to mom...keeping you both in thoughts & well wishes....thanks for the update....

Originally Posted by Kelt

I am happy to report that mom's surgery was quite successful. It went off without a hitch and the really great surprise was that most of the lymph nodes were already gone from her surgery 25 years ago we just didn't know it. My hope, confirmed as a possibility by the surgeon, is that that would have reduced the ability of the cancer to metastasize. It's still a waiting game for pathology and then oncologist, but at least there were no negative surprises during surgery.

After surgery? Never a dull moment.

Mom was pretty spun out with confusion afterwords, which I thought was going to be the case because she was in an unfamiliar environment with lots of things she didn't really understand. I thought we'd be OK for one night in the hospital but when I had to leave at 9 o'clock I was still afraid that she might wake up in the night and try to get out of bed to figure out where she was. I knew she wouldn't get far because her legs were tied to the bed with those things they put on to prevent blood clots . I had the staff set a bed alarm just in case so that if she tried to get out of bed and alarm would go off.

Well, she did try to get out of bed, got all tangled up in IVs and cords and things and took a fall. Fortunately she bounced instead of broke, (a small miracle given her osteoporosis), but she did manage to rip out her surgical drain. I got the call at 3:30 this morning to let me know what had happened and that while she was OKish, we would have to check in with the surgeon when he does his rounds to make sure I can still bring her home today. Like there's really any choice. What am I going to do, leave her there for another night? Have this happen again?

Obviously, I'm going to have to come up with something better for future field trips. I'm thinking the only way to handle this going forward is to get her a private room with somebody to sit up all night, probably me, to answer her questions when she wakes up so that she won't try to get answers on her own.

Oy vey!

I can go over there in a couple hours and see what's what. At least the surgery is done.