TerryJ2
Well-Known Member
So, I can't recall when I posted about this last, but I finally went up to NYC last month and got my cousin on an airplane (with-her cat--oh, yeah, I posted about the cat!! LOL! Finished my last antibiotic last night).
Just got the MRI report. On top of the broken coccyx (which she fell on twice this wk!!!) she has a compression fracture at L1-L2, a broken and pinned right hip, and spinal stenosis. She is in constant pain.
The dr took her down from 40 mg of oxycodone every 4 hrs, to a time release of oxycodone every 12 hrs. They upped her Cymbalta and antidepressant (What IS the name of it?) which helps a lot ... mostly because they not only mellow her out, but they make her sleepy.
She used to call me 16X a day (I kid you not) and now only calls a cpl times. Yesterday she called because she was in pain and miserable. I have learned to call the nurses' station to ask them what's going on, so I don't go on a wild goose chase (and she has sent me on MANY). The nurse said she did not want to get out of bed and did not want to eat.
Okay. Fine.
If I had that many broken bones, I wouldn't want to, either.
Problem is, if you don't get up, bathe, sit in a wheelchair--pain or not--the eventual issue will be pneumonia and then it's good night--forever. She just doesn't get it.
I am itching to talk to the ortho surgeon, and would like her referred to a neurosurgeon, too. I want a kyphoplasty done on the L1-L2 break, (they say you can't do it on the tailbone), and if that doesn't work, a total, permanent nerve block. She would lose function, but if she has to trade pain and function for quality of life, it's a no-brainer.
Meanwhile, I am trying to get my daughter and sister to fly to NYC with-me in March, during spring break, to close up the apartment (she has been on rent control since the '60s and the landlord is dying to sell it for a million as a condo) and it would be nice if I could fix it up, buy and then sell it, but it's just way beyond my scope right now. My main thing is how to tell her that she's not going home. Ever.
And, what to do with-the cat. I've printed flyers and posted them at local vets, and am debating whether to take her to a local no-kill shelter, to be placed ... somewhere. I just hate to put her down.
I took my cats in today, to visit my cousin. I found a nifty backpack/stroller cat carrier online and it came in the mail yesterday. It's pink. Both of my cats fit in it, albeit a bit squished. They were so cute. They had their paws around one another like they were hugging. (Like they had a choice in that confined space? ) They loved visiting my cousin, and she loved petting them, but soon reverted to begging/demanding pain pills, just after she'd had her oxycodone, and then she fell asleep, so I pulled the kitties out from under the furniture and headed on home, to do her laundry. She wet the bed and the laundry was gross.
Bad enough that difficult child wets his bed. Now I have her laundry, too.
If difficult child were more industrious, he could make some money doing the laundry ...
So, any suggestions for how to break it to my cousin that she's not going home? husband thinks I should hire a dr to do it, so s/he can deflect the anger, anguish and despair.
P.S. Abbey, I can't help thinking of you as I type this.
Just got the MRI report. On top of the broken coccyx (which she fell on twice this wk!!!) she has a compression fracture at L1-L2, a broken and pinned right hip, and spinal stenosis. She is in constant pain.
The dr took her down from 40 mg of oxycodone every 4 hrs, to a time release of oxycodone every 12 hrs. They upped her Cymbalta and antidepressant (What IS the name of it?) which helps a lot ... mostly because they not only mellow her out, but they make her sleepy.
She used to call me 16X a day (I kid you not) and now only calls a cpl times. Yesterday she called because she was in pain and miserable. I have learned to call the nurses' station to ask them what's going on, so I don't go on a wild goose chase (and she has sent me on MANY). The nurse said she did not want to get out of bed and did not want to eat.
Okay. Fine.
If I had that many broken bones, I wouldn't want to, either.
Problem is, if you don't get up, bathe, sit in a wheelchair--pain or not--the eventual issue will be pneumonia and then it's good night--forever. She just doesn't get it.
I am itching to talk to the ortho surgeon, and would like her referred to a neurosurgeon, too. I want a kyphoplasty done on the L1-L2 break, (they say you can't do it on the tailbone), and if that doesn't work, a total, permanent nerve block. She would lose function, but if she has to trade pain and function for quality of life, it's a no-brainer.
Meanwhile, I am trying to get my daughter and sister to fly to NYC with-me in March, during spring break, to close up the apartment (she has been on rent control since the '60s and the landlord is dying to sell it for a million as a condo) and it would be nice if I could fix it up, buy and then sell it, but it's just way beyond my scope right now. My main thing is how to tell her that she's not going home. Ever.
And, what to do with-the cat. I've printed flyers and posted them at local vets, and am debating whether to take her to a local no-kill shelter, to be placed ... somewhere. I just hate to put her down.
I took my cats in today, to visit my cousin. I found a nifty backpack/stroller cat carrier online and it came in the mail yesterday. It's pink. Both of my cats fit in it, albeit a bit squished. They were so cute. They had their paws around one another like they were hugging. (Like they had a choice in that confined space? ) They loved visiting my cousin, and she loved petting them, but soon reverted to begging/demanding pain pills, just after she'd had her oxycodone, and then she fell asleep, so I pulled the kitties out from under the furniture and headed on home, to do her laundry. She wet the bed and the laundry was gross.
Bad enough that difficult child wets his bed. Now I have her laundry, too.
If difficult child were more industrious, he could make some money doing the laundry ...
So, any suggestions for how to break it to my cousin that she's not going home? husband thinks I should hire a dr to do it, so s/he can deflect the anger, anguish and despair.
P.S. Abbey, I can't help thinking of you as I type this.
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