another bout of congestive heart failure

I worried about it for several days, and sure enough, my brother is dealing with another bout of congestive heart failure.  It is hard to tell with him because the standard test, to look at the ankles for swelling is difficult with him because his ankles and feet are so skinny and very distorted.  But his face looked pretty full and he was gurgling when he talked. 

At breakfast, I asked him when the last time he was weighed and he said last week, and then, after much prodding he told me he weighted 149 lbs.  He also said he had mentioned to the nurses that he was hoarse and asked if he should do something about it, and they told him he was ok.  (It needs to be noted that he often gets information like this very messed up and that you never know what he really weighs or what he said to someone or what they said back.)

I was going to let it go for another week, but I noticed he was a bit out of breath from getting back into the car, so when we got back to the nursing home, I asked the nurse to look at the record of his weights, and sure enough, he weighed 152 lbs on May 3.  They are definitely supposed to be doing something when he gets into the high 140's.  So I asked that he be weighed again and then I left, and told them I would call back later in the afternoon to get results.

Within 5 minutes they called back, said he weighed 155 lbs, had already spoken to the doctor, and were putting him on higher doses of Lasex.  I spoke of my concern that they need to keep a close eye on his blood pressure, because it has been know to drop precipitously from dehydration, and that he also starts fainting, and that I didn't want' him to start breaking bones, which has also happened.  The nurse seemed very understanding and assured me they would be taking his blood pressure more often.

I have to keep an eye on this, and it nagging at me.  He is supposed to be weighed so that they can catch the congestive heart failure before it gets to crisis stage, and what's the point if they ignore the signals?  It makes me feel like I can never go out of town for any extended period of time without worrying, and that's not right.

birthday surprise

Last Friday was my 60th birthday.  My brother called me and sang me the happy birthday song.  I was so touched.  When I came on Saturday to visit with him, it turned out he even had a present for me (body lotion and a luggage tag) and a card, that he had bought at the nursing home store.  I didn't even know they had a store, so I wasn't expecting anything at all.  It was so sweet, tears came to my eyes.  He is my living member of my original nuclear family, I have no other blood family except for my kids.  He is a pain to take care of but I still love him dearly.

On another note, I found out on Saturday he has another girlfriend!  Her name is Lee and she is 93 years old and in a wheel chair.  The receptionist told me all about it.  When I remarked that I was worried that another girlfriend was going to die on him, she told me not to worry, that the only reason she was in the nursing home is that she was suffering from certain kinds of memory loss.  For instance, she can't remember my brother's name, but she does remember to sit next to him for meals.  Apparently they hold hands.  She has asked him to marry her, but he has demurred and told her that the memory of his former nursing home girlfriend is to fresh to him right now.  He told me she is "just a friend".  I hope Lee is not as nutty as Veronica, who had some violent tendencies. 

I mean to introduce myself to Veronica the next time I go to visit him.  I think I have already spoken to her, I just didn't know she was a girlfriend.

My brother seems so much happier in the nursing home than he was before he landed there.  To think that I spent so much time and energy to keep him out of a home.  But if he is happy, as happy as someone can be with his disabilities and autism, then I am happy.

By the way, his birthday card welcomed me into the "golden age" club.  His sense of humor always amuses me.

I had company tonight

My daughter offered to drive out to the nursing home with me tonight.  That was a real treat.  I had someone to talk to, she drove us home, and she kept up a slight bit of conversation with my brother, which is always a bit difficult.  He is looking to a group outing to Steak and Shake tomorrow, he is going to get a strawberry shake.

better

I went to visit my brother yesterday.  He's better, his hoarseness has almost disappeared and he said he was feeling better too.  Yay!  Other than that the visit was uneventful, just the usual breakfast a restaurant called Elly's.  Only he did surprise me by ordering and drinking a humongous glass of orange juice, he told me he needed to take care of himself!

still hoarse

I went to visit my brother a little earlier in the week this week, in part because I was worried about his hoarseness.  He's still hoarse and has a bit of a runny nose.  I stopped by and talked to the head nurse.  She said they started taking his blood again on a weekly basis because his numbers "were low".  She is Philippino and it's very hard to understand her English so I couldn't follow everything she was saying, something about his platelet count.  But she also said his numbers had improved and that it looked like it was just a cold.  At least she knew something about it.  My husband thinks I should call his doctor and find out why he is getting the blood tests.  I think I'm not getting billed for it because now that his insurance has stopped, medicaid is getting billed for everything.  What a crazy, crazy system.