Pixiemom

This was sent to my mom and her brother and sisters from my Grandpa:

Dear Children,

Mom is still in Mercy Hospital. She has been unable to communicate since Thursday morning when she was taken in by ambulance. In the ER they did many tests including a CT scan for signs of stroke. She hadn’t had a stroke but her potassium was extremely high and she had high levels of ammonia. Her kidney function was at 5.4. Anything over 2.0 is bad. In September it was 1.2. The Kidney Doctor, Dr Fares, said that her kidneys had completely stopped functioning. In addition, her liver doctor, Dr. Whitcomb, said her liver has not been functioning for some time. Blood sugar has been going up rapidly. They were able to bring her sugar levels down to a reasonable point. Doctor Fares said that the only treatment left is dialysis. He did not know if it would be long or short-term. I told both doctors that I felt that Ethel and I would not wish to have treatment that could not improve her health but only postpone the inevitable but I would like them to do all they could to make her comfortable. Her brain function seemed to improve some today. She still can’t communicate but she reacted to discomfort and pain. Dr. Whitcomb said he believed that he could bring her potassium and ammonia levels down so that her brain function would be restored enough so she could communicate. He would like to continue that treatment for one more day. After that he would have all the tubes removed. They are going to move her to a private room on the fifth floor sometime this evening. The nurse said this was so that family members could come any time to visit and stay as long as they wished. They gave her another shot of morphine and that knocked her out. She seemed to be resting peacefully when Holly and I left about 6:00 PM.

Please to continue praying for Mom and Me.

With all my love,

Dad