Hi All,

We brought my Mom home from the hospital after the doctor used
intraveinious antibiotics to calm the inflamation of her gall bladder
down. She also has oral antibiotics to take at home.

They said that it could never bother her again or it could come back
and they would have no choice but to surgically remove the gall
bladder, since it would continue to get inflamed and possibly burst.

She's glad to be home, but doesn't want to continue the Meals On
Wheels anymore as she's not eating very well. The Dr. wants her to
have a lowfat/nonfat diet and wants her to eat high calorie foods.
She's lost a lot of weight and isn't hungry at all most of the time.

Her PCP also put her back on Norvasc and doubled her lisinapril! Her
blood pressure was way too high while she was in the hospital. Her
kidney Dr. took her off of the Norvasc because he said it was hard on
the kidneys, but I think her PCP is more afraid she'll have a stroke
or a heart attack with the BP high than of her kidneys being
affected.

I just think it's down to lesser of whatever evils she can have at
one time. I think they've just given her a "bandaid" right now,
because she's in such poor health that doing anything to her affects
something else! Kindof like when you play plumber in an old house and
when you start unscrewing the spicket on the pipe , the pipe starts
to crumble...

I spent almost all day over there at her apt., cleaning out her
fridge, doing laundry, washing the dishes that were in the fridge,
and unloading the dishwasher for her, while my sister went to get
her. Then , she made a list of groceries that she wanted and I went
to get them, which took over two hours because of all the people in
the grocery store! I took them to her house and put them up and
folded the clothes and put them up. Then I left and came home and
collapsed in my chair!Pooped out!

Just thought I'd give ya'll an update. So I am spending this New
Year's Eve at home resting up for whatever is to come this new year
and knowing that we all can use all the encouragement , hugs,
understanding, empathy, suggestions, ES&H that we all can supply each
other with! Wishing I could wave a magic wand and give us all a fresh
supply of energy to deal with our A's and our new obstacles we
all face everyday, including  Insurance companies, rehab
centers, hospitals, doctors, hospices,and loved ones who are no
longer the people we once knew, stubborn, frightened, controlling,
manipulating, childlike, angry, hostile, beligerent, incoherent,
individuals we try our best to supply with daily needs.

Wishing you all the strength to contend with the coming year, the
encouragement to take even a tiny segment of time to do something
nice just for yourself, and the hope that we can all look at ways we
can walk this journey together , listening and holding each other up
while we wander thru the maze of our loved ones growing older or drinking,
deteriorating further in their journey thru this life, towards the  door to the next phase of the journey, or the next life to come.

I thank my Higher Power whom I call God for all of you , that you're
here to help me , supply me with suggestions , ideas, a shoulder to
cry on, a place to scream out in, (lol) , and the hands of
friendship , and especially the consolation of knowing that someone
else has passed this way and understands what I am feeling , and
knows what I've gone thru and can offer me a sense that I am NOT
ALONE in what I'm going thru and that I can come here to feel like I,
along with you are walking this journey together,... well, I'd just
like to thank God for you all and I pray we all find ourselves having
the strength to get thru another day, one day at a time,thru the new
year to come.

Jonibaloni21 in TX