Daily Archives: March 11, 2014
I Am Just Plain Pooped Tonight
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I Am Just Plain Pooped Tonight
A very special person who was in Al’s life came to visit him early this evening. Although he didn’t say much I knew by his eyes he liked having her here. I was happy for him and I heavily thanked her for stopping by.
Rhino, the cat has been acting so weird today. This morning he was pacing the hall way. He would go to Al’s room then to the hall and back to Al’s room. He would act like he was…
I Am Just Plain Pooped Tonight
A very special person who was in Al’s life came to visit him early this evening. Although he didn’t say much I knew by his eyes he liked having her here. I was happy for him and I heavily thanked her for stopping by.
Rhino, the cat has been acting so weird today. This morning he was pacing the hall way. He would go to Al’s room then to the hall and back to Al’s room. He would act like he was going to sit down and then back in Al’s room he would go. I got up and went in to see where he was at but couldn’t see him. This was around 7 this morning so with the time change it was dark in there somewhat.
I stepped farther into the room to get a better look at Al and suddenly Rhino appeared at the corner of Al’s bed. He stared at me for a second and then hissed at me. I quickly looked at Al to make sure he was breathing and then backed out of the room. Rhino didn’t follow me like he would normally do.
Then when my friend woke up she went in to see Al and Rhino was guarding the door way. She stepped back out and the cat stared her down as if saying get back! For the rest of the day Rhino has been sleeping, so I don’t know what that was all about.
Al has this wonderful nurse who had come out last night to change Al’s catheter. I really felt bad for her. To have to attempt this project not knowing what was on the inside of that tubing, had to make her a little nervous, or it would have me. She was so gentle with Al and talked to him during the process.
She did her best to do a fantastic job and I give her big kudos for what she did. But when I saw all the blood this morning on his legs I got worried. It was when Hospice made me think this was such a normal thing for what had happened and didn’t make me feel like it was worthy of checking him out that I blew my stack.
That wonderful nurse came out today on her day off and took care of Al. It brought huge comfort to me that she cared. She is a fairly new nurse and I hope that as time goes on she always keeps that compassion she has now. Thank-you R. for always being here for Al and me no matter what.
Al is still seeping blood tonight and there is blood in the catheter bag. I am keeping a good eye on it, you can count on this. If it starts to speed up or gets worse in any way, I will be aggressive with my voice again or do what I have to do to make him as comfortable as possible. To others I may seem like the biggest pain in the butt, but I am Al’s advocate, his voice. He was and is hurting and I am here to make sure he doesn’t suffer anymore than he has to. One day my voice will quiet, and the world will know that Al is finally in heaven, but for now, just call me big mouth.
The care giver is gone and my friend has gone home. The house is very quiet right now as Al is finally asleep and not moaning nor crying. I may not get a Hospice visit tomorrow or a care giver as the weather forecast for midnight until tomorrow is a weather storm warning with four to nine inches. I am so sick of the snow I could just hide under my bed covers until I see that first Robin of the Spring.
The weather man said that Saturday we may see more snow but no predictions of snow amounts yet. When is it going to stop? Tomorrow evening we will once again be in the single digits over night; a big four degrees. It has been a long, long winter with 109 inches of snow and it isn’t done yet. Along with the maddening changes of Al and his illness I really need to see a flower blooming.
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I’m So Pissed I’m Steaming
Last night I smelled something wrong when I went in to check on Al. It smelled highly of urine. I checked the catheter bag and it was empty. With the help of my friend being here we started investigating Al’s body.
His shirt was soaked in urine. I called Hospice and informed them of the change. They sent a nurse out with the intention of changing the catheter and accessories. I want to add that…
I’m So Pissed I’m Steaming
Last night I smelled something wrong when I went in to check on Al. It smelled highly of urine. I checked the catheter bag and it was empty. With the help of my friend being here we started investigating Al’s body.
His shirt was soaked in urine. I called Hospice and informed them of the change. They sent a nurse out with the intention of changing the catheter and accessories. I want to add that I have asked a few times if Hospice could change his catheter more than the normal once a month and they have refused. With the illness attaching itself to the internal tubing. I think it should be changed every two weeks, but it is against policy.When she arrived she did what she needed to do but ran into a snag.
The catheter was stuck inside of Al. Now, I want to back up to a couple of days prior. I had reported to the nurse twice that Al has stated he has to pee but he can’t. I have also said to Hospice that Al has a liquid coming out of the tubing going into his penis that looks exactly like KY Jelly.
Nothing was replied back nor checked into. So I have now come back to last night. The nurse tried and tried to pull the tubing out of Al but the tubing was stuck. She contacted another nurse who said she didn’t know how to help.
She called another nurse who did come out. Together they pulled the tubing out. There was some bleeding but the nurses repeatedly told me there may be a little bit of bleeding but it would stop by morning.
This morning when Al was checked there was blood running down between the legs. There were blood clots at the top of the tubing. He is still bleeding and complaining of burning. The catheter bag itself, is filled with blood about 250cc.
I immediately called Hospice and asked for a visit. The regular nurse was not in. Another nurse got on the phone and said this was perfectly normal. According to the two nurses that came out last night made comments that in all their years of nursing they had never seen this happen.
The illness of M.S.A. had attached itself to the inner tubing, and so when they tried to remove it through the small opening of Al’s penis it wouldn’t budge without being pulled. So now as it stands, this isn’t the normal day Hospice would come out.
The nurse said to me on the phone today that if she had to come out it would not be until later this afternoon. Then she said this is so normal that Al could bleed all day today and tomorrow.
I asked her repeatedly where the entrance of the tubing inserted to. I knew the answer but I wanted to hear hers. She kept saying the tissue. I said what tissue? Where is it going when it is inserted?
She then stated, ” I will have another nurse call you.” I said, ” I asked you where the tubing went into.” ” Into tissue.” In the end she said, ” Well do you need a nurse later this afternoon or maybe you could just keep an eye on it and let us know if you see anything odd.”
End of conversation. No nurse coming. Al bleeding. I am so steaming pissed off I could blow steam out my nose. I can’t even change Hospice at this point as Al is too close to death for any change.
Here is a clip from a web page My Health that I am pasting here to let you know I am not just over reacting.
As stated above, trauma is an ever-present facet of catheterization. However, there are rare cases when the catheter has caused some sort of physical damage either because it was too thick or if the balloon was overinflated for an extended period of time. In either cases, contacting your physician as early as possible will allow you to get the condition checked out and fixed.
With regards to an infection, physician attention is critical. The urinary bladder is technically supposed to be a sterile area. If an infection were to occur within it, you will become sick and will need to be put on a course of antibiotics to be treated. The longer a urinary infection remains untreated, the more difficult it will be to remove it. The presence of blood in your catheter bag in tandem with a urinary tract infection will open up a pathway for the bacteria to cross into your bloodstream, so you should contact your doctor immediately when you detect heavy amount of blood in your catheter bag.
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