Challenges

It is certainly a great deal easier to post the trips outside and smiles than some of the other challenges.

Muriel has a home health nurse that comes three times a week. She was here last Thursday and Friday. When she came today, Muriel had lost weight. It is a challenge to get her to gain back those lbs when she is on a strict 0 fat, no vitamin K, and egg free diet. She is not interested in eating too much and likes water more than juice or skim milk. She is drinking a bit more and almost meeting her fluid restriction of 730 ml a day on some days.

More concerning was her oxygen saturation today. The goal is 85 and when the nurse came today, she was in the low 70's. I turned up the oxygen to 2 liters from one and she came around to the low 80's after about 20 minutes. I kept her at 2 liters all day. Around 3:00 I checked again and she was in the 70's again. I turned her O2 up to 3.5 liters and she hovered around 80. I called the hospital and talked to Jane, a nurse practitioner. She was concerned but asked how she looked. I told her she looked fine. Not blue and playing. She's not eating, has low sats, can't walk, and vomits some meds, but she looks good! Jane called Dr. Sajan and he said he's still concerned about another plural effusion, but if she looks okay, we can wait until tomorrow to see her. We see Jane at 12:45 tomorrow, so lots of positve thoughts and prayers, please.