Back in Step Down Unit

Mom is back in the Step Down Unit. She has had some heart arrhythmia last night or today.

In regular ward now

Mom is in a general ward now. Still talks very poorly. still on feeding tube as she can't swallow well. She's sick of being in the hospital.

Doctors are still deciding if they should insert a feeding tube straight into her stomach or not, it will all depend if she can regain her ability to talk and swallow.

if you go to visit her do not feed her ice or water, you are not doing her a favor. feeding her water will put fluids straight into her lungs and just makes things worse.

still extremely weak, working with physiotherapy to gain strength so she can walk.

moving to step down

Mom is being moved to "step down" tonight and apparently being moved out of isolation. "Step down" is the area between intensive care and regular ward care.

She doesn't want to be in the hospital anymore and would like to go home. she hasn't regained her ability to talk yet.

Communicating from her bed is very difficult as there's not wireless access inside the hospital, as it is they don't like cell phones. She's still very weak, even writing with a pen and paper can be tiring for her. Talking is extremely difficult, she can barley put out a whisper. 

throat trouble

Mom is  having trouble with her throat. she can't make voice sounds anymore, there appears to be no damage just she has lost the ability to do it. this ties into her ability to swallow. if she drinks some water half will go into her stomach the other half could go into her lungs. There is a chance that trake will never come out. They are also looking into putting a feeding tube in her side, they then can remove the tube going into her stomach through her nose. She doesn't talk, she'll mouth the words but nothing will come out.

She doesn't have a lot of energy, trying to get off of her bed and standing takes a lot out of her. she's exhausted after doing that. The infection that got her into the hospital  in the first place seems to have passed or is almost finished going through her body.

I don't see the chance of my mom leaving the hospital for the rest of the summer.

Hospital address

hospital address

Royal Inland Hospital


311 Columbia Street
Kamloops, 

British Columbia
V2C 2T1
Canada

View Larger Map

back in isolation

mom is back in isolation. doctor wanted to be on the safe side and decided to isolate her again. Not a lot of energy. they are slowly working on physiotherapy. 

she's working on talking. right now she can talk but it's just a whisper. this is due to the air tube that she had and also the tracheotomy.

Not in isolation

I didn't mention this before but Mom was in isolation when she came back to Kamloops. She was exposed to drug resistant bacteria in St. Paul's and had to be in isolation. when she arrived in kamloops. She wasn't ill because of it; she was labeled a carried and was a risk to patients in intensive care. Today they cleared her and she is not required to be isolated.

Not in step down unit or regular ward yet. They have her moving around a little. I was told that she was able to walk around her bed once bed before she got too tired.