December 5, 2010 11:45 PM

The vigil that could have been!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law was re-admitted to the hospital after being home less that 24 hours. She was found to have lost half of her blood because of internal bleeding. After the usual hospital delays, when we finally left the hospital at 4:00 the game plan was to transfuse her with 2 units of blood and look for her to stabilize.

We had to leave the hospital in order to attend a surprise birthday party for one of my daughters. If we were not there, she sould have been concerned as to why and we did not wish to have her not enjoy the party.

At 5:15 this morning the telephone rang with a call from my sister-in-law who had just spoken with the doctor at the hospital who suggested that we get to the hospital by 7:00 and who wished to re-establish what the rules were for resussitation. It didn't look good!

We quickly made the 1 hour plus drive back to the hospital in Concord, Mssachusetts to see that my mother-in-law seemed to be doing better although her color was extremely white. By then she had received 2 units of blood and had failed to stabilize. Two more units of blood achieved the same result. Tests revealed that the problem was gastro-intestinal in nature. But as fast as the blood went in - it went out again.

The game plan changed and they transfused 3 units of fresh-frozen plasma which seemed to bring the desired results that the doctors were looking for. When we left at 7:00 tonight, they still intended to transfuse one more unitt of plasma.

However, because of her age(93) and the multiple medications that she takes, the doctors find that their options are quite limited. In looking to stop the bleeding, they are leaving her susceptible to having a stroke or some other side effect that could be quite debilitating. Fortunately, the problem has been isolated. Unfortunately, there, as yet, does not appear to be a clean solution to the problem.

So it has been a long two days with the prospect of more to come.

As they say, where there's life there's hope. Keep her in your prayers...

Bob