The Thursday before the 4th of July weekend Nana started having another cardiac event. Nothing is ever text book with Nana so usually by the time she has these events and we have reported them to hospice she is over them and back to her new normal by the time the nurse comes. This time her cardiac event started right when her hospice nurse came to visit during the week.
I was working in my office and I saw our hospice nurse walking up for her weekly visit. I usually take a break during this time so I can attend the visit. This is where she will check Nana’s vitals and ask if we have any concerns and order her supplies and medicine for the week. By the time I get over to Nana’s room her nurse is at her bedside. Nana is pale, feeling weak and sweat is rolling down her face. I tell her nurse this is what happens when she starts a cardiac event. We assume she is just going in and out of a-fib but this time around it lasts longer and Nana starts complaining of chest pain. We have one of the best hospice nurse there is and she immediately jumps into action. We start giving Nana medicine for the pain and try to calm her down. I am so glad that this event happened in front of our hospice nurse so that she could see and understand what my sister and I see sometimes. Nana gets over this event and we are thinking she had another heart attack because she was complaining of chest pain this time. Our hospice nurse orders more meds for Nana and we work out a new plan in case this happens again.
Shortly after our hospice nurse leaves Nana starts having another event. Breaking out in sweat and going in and out of a-fib. I call hospice and request a nurse to come out. Paw-Paw is freaking out and wanting to rush her to the hospital which would have been rough on Nana and they would be doing the same treatment we can do at home. They get a nurse to come out and I run to the pharmacy to pick up the nitro glycerin tablets her regular hospice nurse had ordered. My sister and her husband, also a hospice nurse makes it to the house to help calm Paw-Paw’s fears.
We give her the glycerin and more pain meds and get her calmed down. The on-call hospice nurse shows up and helps us as well. Nana has a pretty uneventful night. In the morning, I run over to check on her. She is sleeping so deeply it looks like she has passed away in her sleep. I then see her chest rising and her hand is still doing a circular motion. I gently touch her shoulder and her eyes pop open. I ask her how she is feeling and if she is in any pain. She says she is ok and not in pain. She is just tired. I let her go back to sleep.
The hospice HHA comes over and gets her cleaned up, dressed and out of the bed. When we get back from the grocery store she is sitting in her green chair. Still weak but doing ok. I give her morning pills to her and as soon as they hit her stomach she throws them up. She is keeping nothing down. I make another call to hospice and another on call nurse comes on. She checks Nana’s vitals and we give her some anti-nausea medicine, which of course she throws up as soon as it hits her stomach. I had some suppository type of anti-nausea meds we had from last time so we give her one and wait and see. She settles in and goes to sleep. The rest of the night is uneventful. She is even able to keep some water down so I am thinking the tide is turning in the right direction. Wishful thinking!
The next morning Paw-Paw fixes them each a cup of coffee. I go in a little bit later and Nana has thrown up. I sit her back up in bed, kiss her forehead and get her cleaned up. Which is hard for me to do because I cannot tolerate throw up. If I hear someone throwing up I will start throwing up as well. It’s the only thing that I cannot tolerate. I give Nana another anti-nausea suppository and soon she settles down and goes to sleep. Hospice HHA comes over and gives her a good bath, dresses her and gets her out of bed. She does ok for a bit. Keeping some food and water down.
Dinner is ready so I tell Paw-Paw let’s just give her some rice with a little bit of gravy to see if she can keep it down. As we are walking in to the living room to give it to her she starts throwing up exorcist style. Her throw up is brown and it smells like poop. My heart sinks because now I am certain she has a bowl obstruction. I recognize this symptom because my mom had the same thing from all the years she was on chemo. I take a picture of the bucket of throw up and text it to my brother-in-law. Tell him what it smells like. He said call hospice and report it that yes it probably was a bowl obstruction and that we were going to have to send her to the hospital.
Sure, enough that is what the on-call hospice doctor tells us to do. As this isn’t something they will be able to treat. I tell my Paw-Paw what is going to happen and he agrees. Nana does too so off I go to call 911. My son goes I know the drill I will go get the ambulance from the road. I change into jeans because I always freeze in hospitals. I grab my sweater and then go grab all of Nana’s meds in a cosmetic bag because I know those lists of medications are coming.
The ambulance comes, we tell them what hospital to go to. Paw-Paw and I ride with her in the ambulance and my sister meets us at the hospital. Nothing could have prepared us for the news we were about to hear. Nothing…. To be continued…
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