caregiver emergency

Did You Miss Me?

The Emergency Department relies on information and training to support development of healthcare professionals.

Some of you have noticed that I have not been writing for a couple of months because you have sent me messages asking if I was okay. Thank you very much for checking on me. It’s humbling to know there are people that I don’t even know who care about me and lift me up in their prayers. Thank you.

It’s been about two months since I last wrote. During that time, I have been in the emergency department three times for abdominal migraine attacks that I could not control at home. I started having attacks of severe abdominal pain in February. Initially, the ED staff thought it was appendicitis, but that was ruled out on CT. The next time it occurred in March, they thought maybe I had an intestinal infection because they could see two areas of thickening on the CT and my white blood cells were elevated. I was given a course of antibiotics and an anti-fungal (to be on the safe side) and survived the additional trauma of a two-week encounter with their side effects. I was feeling pretty good about things when in May it happened again, and the ED doctors said they didn’t have a clue what was going on; I should see a gastroenterologist.
It took a while to get a specialist appointment, but I saw someone around the first of June. Five minutes into my visit, he said, “You have abdominal migraines.” What in the world is that? I thought to myself. He went on to explain that they are similar to headache migraines in that they have the same mechanism of action.

  • There is usually an aura (Yep, I had that),
  • they come on and get progressively worse and
  • then go away with or without treatment (that seemed to be true), and
  • between episodes, everything was perfectly normal (Yep, that was true, too).

Abdominal migraines usually affect children but can affect adults who have chronic migraines as well (that was me). Great, I now had a diagnosis and a series of medications to try when I had an attack. What I have found so far though is that the medicines are either not strong enough or I’m waiting too long to take them. As with every new diagnosis, there is always a learning curve required before you find the right treatment plan.

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I Just Keep Going and Going and Going

The Emergency Department relies on information and training to support development of healthcare professionals.

In the past month, I have been taken to the emergency room twice with severe abdominal pain and vomiting.  Each time they ruled out appendicitis (thank goodness) but obviously, something is wrong. At this point, they believe I have two locations in my intestines that are infected which is causing the pain so I’ve been put on two very strong antibiotics that may kill me before the ten-day treatment is up. Each day I struggle to keep going. Each day I battle nausea and the discomfort caused by the antibiotics. Each day I have to find a way to get everything done that Lynn requires because if I don’t, it won’t get done.

People tell me to call if I need help and I have and they have but they can’t be expected to stay here 24/7 while I recover. They have to work. They have home responsibilities. They have their own challenges and illnesses and life to endure. It’s not that I don’t have wonderful people to support me; I do. It’s just that there is so much that must be done to keep our routine going.
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Spring Into Action

Are you prepared to spring into action for an emergency? Just because you are a full time caregiver, doesn’t mean the world stops sending you other challenges so you can focus on the one needing your care.  Most of us have other family members—children, parents, siblings, even close friends or others who are near and dear to our hearts.  What happens when they have a crisis and they need you? It’s a good idea to have a plan in place for just such an emergency.
Last weekend, my Mom seemed to be having a stroke.  Suddenly, she could not say what she wanted to say but instead a weird combination of words came out.  She was fully alert and aware that her words were garbled but unable to get what was thought in her head to come out of her mouth. Thought there were no other symptoms of a stroke, dysphasia is a potential sign of stroke and one that should not be ignored so I needed to get her to the emergency room.

It’s important in times of crisis, to be able to sit aside as much emotion as possible so that fear and anxiety does not prohibit you from reacting.  Having originally been trained as a nurse, I had experience is becoming “clinical,” that is you start assessing major bodily functions, determine what is working and what is not and then plan quickly to take whatever necessary steps come next. Living in rural Virginia, our rescue squad is volunteer and doesn’t always have a team at the station plus the rule in an emergency is to take the patient to the nearest emergency room.  I wanted her to go where her medical records were located if possible and since there was no breathing concern and other vital signs were stable, I realized the quickest way to get her there was to take her myself.

Unfortunately, taking Lynn with us was out of the question.  I could not manage to care for him and my Mom at the same time so as I was having Dad help Mom get ready to go to the hospital, I immediately put an indwelling catheter into Lynn so that someone else in my family could stay with him.  Then I called his son, to come spend the night just in case but he lived an hour away; so I called my daughter who only lives 10 minutes away and she came right over.  She finished helping my parents get ready while I pulled together Lynn’s essentials—catheter (done), night time medications(assembled and labeled), morning medications (assembled and labeled), instructions for other comfort needs (written and placed on kitchen table.)  Checked and double-checked.  Lynn had or was about to have all he needed for me to leave immediately and stay away several hours.

My family has learned that when I call for help, it usually means I need to be relieved of Lynn’s care for an extended time. They have made a commitment to do what they can to always be there for us and having the knowledge of that commitment gives me such peace knowing that they have my back where he is concerned. I have an emergency folder prepared in case something happened to me and I can’t do the prep work for when I’m not here.  It’s good to have that available and to update it periodically since care for anyone with a long term condition can change over time.
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