I received a phone calls from the neurologist's office yesterday: "Mrs. Braun, your mother's blood work shows she is dangerously low in sodium and you need to take her to the emergency room right away." Or as right away as you can get if you happen to be living 50 miles away, I guess. So that's what I did.
Right now, she's in there for at least three days (and she hates it) and she's having a lot of tests run. One doctor saw nodules on her chest x-ray that no one else has mentioned, another told me that Mom's emphysema is a lot more advanced than her personal physician implied. Apparently alcohol depletes the body of sodium and yes, she's a drinker. And no, she doesn't drink much water and no she doesn't salt her food. Sigh.
So they are working on her and she's grumpy and more than a little confused by all this fuss. That's a new problem too, the mental confusion, although I understand that the low sodium can cause that also. I guess it can cause a lot of problems actually.
For the time being, I'm up in Kettering and Denny is stuck working on his father's house on his own, not that he's complaining. There will be decisions to be made over Mom's immediate and future care, although a lot of it depends on whether or not she is willing to take better care of herself and give up the drinking and smoking. Which is probably not an option in her opinion. Heh. We'll deal with it, because that's what you do, right?
The good news? Frustration makes me feel like doing housework, so I'll get some of the things Mom has been neglecting done. Then it will be time to go back and watch her get poked and prodded some more--they are taking her blood every four hours, poor thing. Boy is she going to be grumpy when I get there.....
1 comment:
I am so sorry to hear this Linda. Your poor Mom, but at least in the hospital they can correct her sodium levels. Low sodium would definitely contribute to her confusion. I think both you and she have every right to be feeling a little grumpy. Sending warm thoughts your way.
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