Hi all -
I have been lurking but not posting much. 2015 has not been kind to my family to date. Rheumatoid arthritis is kicking my butt and adversely affecting my diabetes.
However, Mom has suffered the most this winter with her osteoarthritic hips. February 27th she told me she not stand or walk when I woke her up to drive her to dialysis. I called EMS and she was promptly taken to the hospital for evaluation. Every test under the sun (especially stroke) was done. Finally, the ER admitted her and came to the conclusion that she was have a severe arthritis flare (DUH!). I will admit that her BP was extremely high, but it was due to the pain she was suffering.
While in the hospital, she evaluated by many doctors who decided that she was not stable enough to do any type of hip replacement surgery, but they wanted her to be placed in a skilled nursing/rehabilitation facility to help her strengthen her leg muscles. She was transferred to the facility March 12th for a 20 day stay. Mom was determined to get back home quicker than the timeframe the doctors anticipated.
On Saturday, March 14th I receive a phone call at 4:30am from the facility saying Mom is unresponsive and suffering from low blood sugar. She said the meter only gave a reading of "LOW". The nurse told me to me the ambulance at the hospital. I beat the ambulance to the hospital.
The ER nurse told me that EMS said their meter registered 30 for her BG but that was after the nurse had given her glucagon. They gave her 2 5 Deps to get her to 79. Immediately the doctors assumed stroke, but I knew that her BGs had dropped drastically. She's been diabetic since 1983 and on insulin since 1989 and she's never been unconscious with me.
Her endocrinologist is determined to say it's a stroke, but the neurologist did a physical exam, checked her previous and current CAT scans and came to the conclusion that she went into hypoglycemic shock. The brain cannot function without sugar.
As the neurologist calls it, she's in a stupor. The incident happened Saturday and it is now Friday. She is slowly coming back, but she still sleeps a lot, her speech is slurred, she can move her hands, arms, legs, and feet, but she is weak. The neurologist says it will take time for her to come back and a lot of aggressive therapy(PT/OT/Speech).
She's got a temporary feeding tube in her nose, but eventually one will be placed in her stomach. They were originally giving her Nepro, but her sugars kept climbing so they switched it to Glucerna.
I am so hurt that I can't even be mad right now.
The doctors (admitting & endocrinologist) are saying she has brittle diabetes so her sugars dropped and she had the severe hypo that no one caught. But I still feel that the nursing facility messed up one of three ways---did not monitor her, give her a snack, or gave her too much insulin for supper.
Please add her to your prayer lists if you have them. She's the only immediate family I left.
Now my RA is flaring and my BGs are elevated because I've been living in her hospital room this week. I'm still trying to eat correctly, but I think the stress has just pushed me over the edge.
Kate
