My Grandma

This makes me very sad to post this but I want to let everyone know what is going on and to have this noted in my blog. Its a copy of an email from my mother on a health update of my grandma. I fear she might not be with us much longer and I already miss who she use to be.

Hello Family,

This is an update on mom/Nana's medical condition. She continues to struggle each day with what she wants to say. She knows in her head what she wants to say but just can't grasp the words. Some of you may have noticed it in her writing on her Christmas cards or talking to her on the phone.

We met with the neurologist last Friday to get the results of her MRI. It revealed no tumors or history of stroke. It did show brain shrinkage which is typical for this stage of life and/or Alzheimer's. There is no diagnosis at this time for Alzheimer's, rather it's a process of eliminating "other things". She does show more shrinking in the Memory/language lobe so they placed her on Aricept. It is a drug for memory and Alzheimer's patients. It may or may not help, we won't know for about another four weeks. There are no mentionable side effect with this drug.

When mom/Nana first moved here she was bruising tremendously, and I'm not exaggerating. I believed she was taking to much Ibuprofen so I took her off it and got her set up with my acupuncturist. He placed her on a Pharmaceutical grade fish oil. (let me say here that he is also a real doctor. He works with both eastern and western medicine. He has been 80 % responsible for ridding me of my pain with Fibromyalsia) The fish oil had a dual purpose: to naturally reduce inflammation in her back and the high DEA for her brain.

On a previous blood work up Mom showed Anemic and creatine out of range, suggesting liver damage. After repeating the blood work her liver was repairing its self but her red blood cells were still low and she was not low on iron. So they sent us to a hematologist to see if her bone marrow is not producing enough red blood cells. We saw him Monday of this week. He is very hopeful that all this is being repaired now and that the damage was all a result from the high doses of Ibuprofen. But to be safe he is running 10 test. We'll get those results on Dec 28th.

Today she had an endo scopy and a colonoscopy. The test were done b/c of the Vomiting, Anemia and rapid weight loss (mom is loosing a lot of weight without trying. Funny note; she thinks she was dieting). i believed that the vomiting is a result of stress in her life. She has stabilized here and has not thrown up since Oct 17th. Whenever mom gets stressed out her mind is mush for two days. The test today did not reveal anything really. She has divercuticulosi, as most people do when they get over 50 yrs., no polyps or visible problems. He did take a couple of biopsies of her stomach and colon just to be sure. He did recommend a follow-up with an ultrasound, "just to be sure" as he put it. She did not due will prepping for this procedure and I wasn't sure if they would be able to do it. I had to stand over her to get her to drink the prep and we only got through 3/4s of the prep. But it's done.

To date we've put in an electric fence for Chelsie. This has greatly reduced mom's stress over her getting out the door and running away. She loves that dog so much that she has asked me that if she [mom] dies would I please put Chelsie down and cremate them together :(
We have installed duct work so he has a better heat system down in the basement. We also added more electrical outlets and Switches. We're checking into drywall next.

Christian City called this week (man, what a busy week) with an apartment for mom. I turned it down. She's just not ready to be on her own yet. Plus, she is afraid to be alone. She doesn't remember her meds and might not eat if I didn't remind her to. She can not drive anymore at this time. The neurologist said that if the meds work she might be able to live on her own again for a while.

Whatever is going on she's going down hill faster everyday, It's sad to watch her and try to reason with her on things, you can't imagine the daily task to which I talk her through. I'd recommend to those that want to see her again to come before she doesn't remember you. I pray this medicine will restore some dignity to her. She feels so bad. On a positive side, she's not ready to leave and meet God....I tell her not to worry b/c it's a party up there with a new body. She laughs.

I'll keep everyone posted on the test result.
Have a Merry Christmas everyone,
Kimberly