Mom has pneumonia and has moved in...

[camismom]

As most of you know my mother moved in with my sister not too long ago until her apartment comes available. She is on a wait list for a rent controlled type apartment in a building for elderly and disabled people. Anyway, mom has been sick for the last three weeks and hasn't been able to shake it. She went to her doc yesterday and was dx'd with pneumonia. My sis is quite a BAD housekeeper and has twin almost 4 yr olds that she has no control over so mom gets absolutely NO REST there! She said K lets those babies stay up until midnight and it is usually between midnight and 2 am before they go to bed!!! She doesn't try to get them down for a nap until 3:00 in the afternoon. Even though they have a three bedroom house they put mom in the girl's playroom (the girls still sleep with K and my bro-in-law) so even when mom tries to retreat to her room she can't because they're in there playing. Oh, but that's another thread all together. The point is mom hasn't been able to shake the cold because she can never relax or sleep and she lives in filth. We offered her to come live with us when she moved in with K but she felt an oblgation to K and didn't want to hurt her. After yesterday's dx and order from doc to "go someplace quiet and sleep, sleep, rest, and sleep" which is impossible at K's I was able to convince her to come to our house. She is now with us and I am hoping like crazy she will decide to stay indefinitely! With me and Andy both working and Cami of course in school she has the house to herself all day. Plus due to Cami's swimming we are barely home on weeknights as well. She has our spare bedroom, complete with a queen size bed (she's been sleeping in a twin) all to herself. All we had to do was move the computer out of there so my computer-holic daughter can get to her computer without being in granny's way. I truly hope that she will find some much needed rest at our house, get over this pneumonia quickly and decide she is better off at our house. I told her last night we could get her recliner out of storage and put that in her room as well and she would have her own space (there is already a t.v. in that room as well as telephone).

Y'all be praying she will get well soon and decide to stay with us. It truly is better for her health....bless my sis' heart!

[tridlette]

Mom get some rest!

We are so glad to have you in our house! We want you to get well soon, and we promise to keep our broom flying quiet and do it at a reasonable hour!

Welcome home!

Love, the Family!

[Linda]

I hope she gets the rest and sleep she needs....and how lucky for cami that she gets to have her granny there

[AnneM]

Christy ... I think Trid said it all !! ... (WELL SAID TRID!!) ...

Oh but your Mum is definitely in VERY VERY good hands now ... and this sounds so much more what she needs than young babies up until very late at night ...

I hope that pneumonia shakes itself away from your Mum pretty darn QUICKLY as well !!

[camismom]

tridlette said:

Mom get some rest!

We are so glad to have you in our house! We want you to get well soon, and we promise to keep our broom flying quiet and do it at a reasonable hour!

Welcome home!

Love, the Family!

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thanks, Trid!

I was having fun with her last night because she kept wanting to do things, help me, etc. and I would say...NO! Now, go sit down! I laughed and told Andy "this is going to be fun cause she's at MY house and I get to boss her around like she did me as a teen." Her reply? She said, "yeah, and I can IGNORE you and do want I want anyway, like you did as a teen." ;D ;D

Seriously though, I've been reading up on pneumonia today and know it could become quite serious if not fatal if she doesn't get a handle on it soon. So rest is waht I intend to FORCE on her while at my house.

Thanks for the get well wishes everyone!

[tridlette]

Rest, fluids, meds exactly as prescribed, even if she "feels" better. You have to take it very easy, pneumonia takes a long time to recover from... remember, I was a respiratory therepist for 14 yrs. Inhalers when needed if dr. ordered... she can get up and walk about, but not over do it... that is too big a set back if she gets over tired.

[camismom]

Thanks so much for that info Trid! I was looking for just that...how to help "treat" her at home. I was even thinking of the little breathing tool she was given when she had her bypass surgery...that would be helpful if we can find it!

[finnmom]

Christy´s mom

Christy, you did the right thing, rest is the best for her right now! As Trid said; rest, liquid´s, med´s as ordered and enought time to recover even if she feel´s better...Keep her " Down" even after she feel´s better, it can so easily come back again and then it´s really hard to fight for.

Lot´s of prayer´s and hug´s for all of you!!! She´s in good hand´s now and will get better!!

[tridlette]

Even if you can't find the exercise machine... have her take a deep, fast breath in and hold it, try for a count of 10, but even a 2-3 second hold is good. Blow out. Do 10 an hour. (Or 5 for every commercial break on tv.) Every hour, on the hour, take a deep breath, hold it, and cough. The idea is to get the dirty junky air out, and refill the deepest recesses of the lungs with fresh clean un~pneumonia air!

[Kaiti]

Christy and family :-XI hope your mom is better soon, now that she is in a different enviornment, she can start to breath easier and cleaner air.

And like Trid and Marja said, even if she thinks she feels better, keep taking it easy

And, Upon seeing your mom's response to you, my mom wil NEVER come to our house to live ;D ;D ;D ;D

[sweety]

:)Be sure and KEEP TAKING THE MEDS. The best way to get a relapse is to not finish the meds or to not take them as many times a day as Dr ordered. When I was working with lung patients I told them to take a deep breath and hold it for 10 seconds every time the commercials started on TV. (If they watched TV) We actually had little portable breathing machines in the hospitals, but taking deep breathes and holding for 10 seconds is just as good. Drink lots of fluids (fluids will help wash the nasty yuk out of her lungs) Some exercise is good but don't over do it. Complete bedrest will not help the pneumonia because she won't be breathing or coughing as good as if she was sitting up and walking. When she starts coughing and it starts to hurt, take a stiff pillow and have her hold it around her chest (like hug it to her chest) and cough. This will help support the chest and help her get the yuk up. Hot fluids like broths, teas, soups etc will help loosen the mucous. I've done percussion on my mother when she has had pneumonia but it is kind of hard to describe in writing. Ask her Dr. about PERCUSSION. He will know what I'm talking about. Tridlette also knows what I'm talking about. It might wear her out though. Just check. Good luck and God Bless. I know that with good quiet care she will get well fast.

[sweety]

:)The breathing tool she had after surgery would be GREAT! Use that when commercials come on. I used to teach open heart pt's how to use it. Some patients were more cooperative than others. Some cranky old men would scream at me and try to make me mad or scare me. I would tell them that if they were screaming at least they were taking deep breaths.

[SKay]

camismom said:

I was having fun with her last night because she kept wanting to do things, help me, etc. and I would say...NO! Now, go sit down! I laughed and told Andy "this is going to be fun cause she's at MY house and I get to boss her around like she did me as a teen." Her reply? She said, "yeah, and I can IGNORE you and do want I want anyway, like you did as a teen." ;D ;D

I'm glad you convinced your mom to stay with you. I hope she gets better soon. At least she still has her sense of humor!

[Amsmom]

christy, you are such a good daughter. i know youve had issues with mom and sis in the past, and you are a very special person to "rescue" her when she needed it!
healing thoughts are being sent to mom!!!

[camismom]

thanks everyone for the well wishes! Thanks ESPECIALLY Trid and Sweety for the medical advice. She is pretty sure her breathing tool is packed up in a box somewhere in her storage room, so we'll have to go with the deep breathing and holding exercise you both mentioned. We did get her recliner tonight so that will help her too, so she CAN sit up when needed/wanted. She said she got up several times last night and sat on the side of her bed a while when the coughing got too bad. Anyway, it is looking like she is indeed here to stay.

Thanks again everyone. Speaking of bed, I'm 'bout ready to climb into mine and call it a night. "See" you guys tomorrow!