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gerry
This past week has been a roller coaster with Gerry. Gerry is Zoe's mom who has Alzheimer's and is at Western State Hospital in Tacoma. A week ago Saturday we found out she had stopped eating and drinking and was on an IV to get fluids and some nourishment back in her. We went down the next day with her favorite food, which she ate. We learned that morning they discovered pneumonia in one lung. Monday she ate some. By midweek she was off the IV. But Friday afternoon we got a message from her doctor that she was no longer eating and drinking and was back on the IV. Worse, the pneumonia was back very strong and she was on a double dose of antibiotics. The doctor said the prognosis was not good. Saturday we went down again with more of her favorite foods and she ate. She seemed to be feeling a little better. The doctors didn't return until Tuesday (Monday was a holiday). Tuesday I got a call from Gerry's doctor. The latest tests indicated that there might be congestive heart failure or cancer. Also the swelling in her legs was increasing and she was anemic and might need a blood transfusion. Gerry is at Western State which is focused on mental health and has limited resources for testing and procedures like blood transfusions. Her doctor wanted to send her to a nearby hospital for a transfusion. Zoe has been agonizing over what to do for her mom. We are afraid that once she got to the hospital that things could cascade into their wanting to do aggressive treatment but Gerry, with her Alzheimer's, has a very limited resources to endure even an overnight hospital stay. It would be a nightmare for her. As it is it's a nightmare for Zoe. Posting may be pretty sporadic for a while.
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