maryfran's at home

i've created this blog to help inform you all about my mom's health.

as you may know, mom was in the hospital for three nights, april 2 - 5. she had lots of trouble breathing, so she was checked into the hospital. she's comfortable and resting at home now. she's chatty as ever and in good spirits, but her condition is quite serious, as she's got two pretty serious problems - chronic emphysema and congestive heart failure. her emphysema is making the lungs inefficient - they don't get enough blood into the bloodstream. and her heart is not really strong. the left side (the side that pumps the freshly oxygenated blood into the body) has a leak in it. technically, it's a leak in the mitrol valve. 30-50% of the blood that is suppossed to get out into the body gets pushed back into the heart. so, poorly oxygenated blood comes from the lungs and then a lot of that poorly oxygenated blood doesn't make it out to mom's body, so her body does not get the nourishment in oxygen that it needs. the heart condition is called congestive heart failure. her mom had it in her late 70's. her dad had emphysema. surgery is not an option at this stage with her age and emphysema.

i've been out her since wednesday and we've been looking into increasing home care and making it easier and more comfortable for mom to live here. like i said, she's in good spirits and talks a lot, inbetween her rests. she's always been good at telling a story. that certainly hasn't changed.

feel free to post anything on here. we'll read it to her.

with love.

tom.