back to the nursing home

The latest update on Myra's status is that she's returned to the nursing home but with no answers to anything.

The doctors were not able to find the source of the infection. They took all kinds of blood cultures but they all came back inconclusive.

On top of the infection that she's fighting, she showed symptoms of pneumonia, so they treated her with an extra iv for that, however, it proved not to be pneumonia so that was also inconclusive. It's all settling into her chest so she's either got a bad cold or it will turn into something soon.

Now that she's back at the nursing home, she's extremely weak and she's hardly moving at all. She's had some fainting spells again when she gets up to use the restroom (with the help of an aide) which is what happened when she was with Dusty and I at our house back in August.

Myra said she is absolutely sick of all this. She feels she's gone backward a year from a physical standpoint. She's weak. They can't figure it out and it's starting to take a mental toll.

Her new renal doctors have added 1 hour to her dialysis to cleanse the contaminates.The goal of it is that she's generally stronger and not feeling so weak. She's still going to dialysis 3 days a week. So now her cycles are each 4 hours long. They won't know for about 2 months if this is working. All Myra knows is it's taking a lot out of her physically. Totally wipes her out.

She's willing to do whatever it takes but nothing seems to be the answer yet.

Some of you have sent emails that you'd like passed on to Myra. I am happy to do that for you, so please email me at theratcliffs@charter.net if you'd like me to pass a message to Myra.

hospitalized

Just a quick update to say that Myra is in the hospital once again. Seems she has her infection back, if it ever left. Doctors seem to think the infection comes from the dialysis port.

She's been quite lethargic over the weekend and has eaten very, very little due to a loss of appetite. She was to see a doctor this Wednesday but her nursing staff at the nursing home contacted her doctor to describe symptoms and he instructed her to get in the hospital.

When she recovers, she will go back to the nursing home. She's very weak and therapy isn't going as well as she would hope. She tires out so quickly. In my humble opinion, her weakness is partially due to this infection that never goes away, but becomes treated enough that she can no longer be hospitalized. It's a big, bad cycle for her.