D.I.D....

Daughter had an emergency department situation last night. Glad to report that it went relatively smoothly. We were't able to go in with her (Hubby had taken medication that makes him very groggy, I don't have a license) so she went in by ambulance. Despite it being busy (Friday night....) she was seen and her wound dealt with quite quickly. I kept the phone next to my pillow in case she needed to talk to me. Inital phonecall was 11 pm, follow up when she got to the hospital maybe midnight-ish.
I'm wondering whether the bad press that some hospitals have had lately over how they handle MI patients may have meant that they've lifted their game a little? She's had some horrible nights. It would be so good if it's an improvement in treatment approaches and not a one off fluke of a good encounter.

I'm off to my parents' place on Monday, returning home Friday. At least this time, despite last night's emergency, our daughter seems back into reasonable balance. My Mum has a specialists' appointment on Tuesday that it would be good for me to attend with her, but it's awful when I've had to do the big long train trip with our daughter still struggling to come back from a crisis.

Hearing you @Smc .... 💐💜

Today...

Am still feeling a bit raw around the edges from my trip up to the parents' place last week. Not helped by the fact that our daughter had one of those emergency department nights shortly before, so it was a double whammy time.

The main reason for the visit's timing was to be able to go with my Mum to a specialists' appointment about her ongoing lymphedema related infections. Apart from that day, I spent the rest of the visit at their old house trying to do some more sorting. I was kind of wondering if it had been worth the stress.

Today showed that it was. Mum had a fall sometime early this morning. The aged care home staff found her on the floor about 5:30 a.m. (with her emergency buzzer out of her reach on her walker... ah well.). She had a bit of a fever and was a bit slow to respond to them, so they played it safe and sent her to the hospital.

Seems there may be another (second/different) infection in her leg near the one that the specialist was checking up. Emergency ward was apparenty having an unpleasantly busy day, and while I was able to get on to Mum a couple of times, I didn't get to talk at any length with the nursing staff until late afternoon. Seems the specialists' report somehow wasn't in her medical paperwork, so I was able to give the nurse a "heads up" of some of the more important points he'd raised. So hey, it was worth the trip after all.

Mum's expecting to be back at the home tonight. I've spent the day in that kind of "limbo" that happens when you're waiting for news and uncertain what it will be. Ooooh I'm hoping I'll sleep well tonight. And hoping Mum's on the mend. The infections are bacterial, but the one the specialist was looking into has a reputation for being antibiotic resistant, so treatment's not altogether straightforward.

That is tuff @Smc

Thinking of you.

Thanks @Determined. Appreciated.

@Smc included Mum in forum friends prayers tonight ...

Thinking of you too @Smc 💜💐

@Smc hoping you were able to get some rest last night. Thinking of you and family.

Thanks all. I slept, but not really all that well. So I'm dealing with a headache at the moment. I haven't heard any more from the aged care home, so hoping it's "no news is good news".

Messy weekend, but may be making some headway.

Three emergency department visits for Daughter, two with me accompanying her. One Saturday night for repair work, on her own. One Sunday afternoon to try to get a bed in the psych unit for a night or two, because the SH compulsion was still worryingly strong. We got a very helpful response as such, about the best she's had there for a long while, but the unit was full, as were the two next closest ones (both of which were 100+kms away... not ideal for a crisis admission). Fallback plan was me staying at her home for the night, caretaking sharps and providing support; for her to ring mental health unit if she needed to talk; and for a worker to follow her up Monday. We stressed the urgency of her mental health file being reviewed, as the information on it was unhelpful to the point of obstructive.

Didn't quite work. Had dinner with her and watched a movie (nice safe kids level content). Her brother arrived home, and I went out to help him bring in firewood. Came back inside to find that in that short time, Daughter had necessitated another "repair work" trip to E.D. Eventually got back to their house and to sleep about 3:30-4 a.m.

But the good news is, it seems we've got the local public mental health unit back on side. The caseworker did follow up this morning, they want to have family members involved in the review as well as Daughter, and most promising of all is that she is trying to fight the compulsion now, instead of seeing it as a good emotional release strategy. We're very very much trying to encourage her that it's possible, and that losing one battle against it doesn't mean she will lose every battle.

Very tired out, kind of getting a second wind now, just in time to cook dinner. Hoping I'll sleep like a log tonight.