Well, if you've read the last post at all....you know that Neil and I started a job taking care of an older lady. Well...in less than a week, she's gotten extremely sick. Her Birthday was friday, and she had a ton of people come to see her. Our best guess is that someone came, not knowing that they were sick, and Vicky contracted something. The poor thing barely holds 76 lbs and is merely 4' 7" tall. She's extremely frail, and has been sick since Monday night.
Well, Tuesday she became very dillusional and disoriented. We just assumed that it was because she hadn't had much sleep. Her appetite was decreasing rapidly, and she began running a fever. Later that night, she woke up (which NEVER happens) and thought it was morning, so she wanted some oatmeal. So we fed her, but she was still extremely lost, talking to people who we couldn't see, saying things that we've never heard and making now sense. We gave her some benadryl hoping to help her sleep. Well, we thought wrong. Around midnight that night, she rang us (she has a bell if she needs anything) and I ran in there to find her almost on the ground. She was extremely sick and had severe diahrea. Her bathroom is only a few steps from her room, but she was so sick and weak she couldn't even make it out of her room before passing out. Well, thats just an idea of how the rest of the night went.
Wednesday morning we really new that something wasn't right. She never got out of bed, could hardly speak, and was in a semi comatose state. The hospice nurse came by...and the conclusion came that the odds of her making it through the night were slim. What a long day. We called close family (her son) and some friends to come see her.
Thursday morning came, she amazingly was still alive. But still in a coma like state. A hospital bed was delivered, and she was moved to the front room where it would be easier for us to care for her, and provide more space for those who came to say goodbye. Since Vicky is under hospice care, there is no IV's used or any preventative measures. The only things we can provide her are comfort measures. So, pain medication etc.
Well, Friday came, and not much was different. She's been running a fever since Tuesday morning, and because she's so weak has not been able to take medication orally. By this point she has been catheterized and most of her meds are administered rectally. Pretty painful to watch! We knew that by this point that if the infection she had didn't take her, that her body would start shutting down because of her lack of food.
About 4:00 this morning, I woke up to hear her yelling loudly. It was very alarming, because she hadn' t made much sound since Monday night. We ran out there and found her half off the bed (she hadn' t moved more than a few inches in 4 days) with a death grip on the bars. She was in soo much pain she was just yelling the word "help" over and over. We did everything we could to calm her, giving her almost 3x the amount of morphine she's been taking. She was even crying for her mom. This was a completely overwhelming experience, even so that it made Neil's stomach upset. We believe that her organs have started shutting down at this point. Well, to cut things a little short, the nurse came in later, concluding she was very close to passing at this point. When we left her around 12:15...she was still breathing. We've come to our apt to finish up packing....and we don't know, but she may not be there when we get back.
Well, I know this has been a crazy post. It's been a crazy 10 days. We went from moving in less than 2 days, meeting the sweetest little woman ever...to watching her agonize in pain and slowly die. It's been tough, but at the same time, a sweetly spiritual experience. She's been seeing people from the spirit world, and just yesterday said that she had seen her mom. It's definitely been an experience. Neil and I believe that the reality of what we're going through won't hit us completely until she's gone. But right now we're handling everything well.
That all for now. We still don't have internet set up out there....so it will be a while more before I post.
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