3:15PM: Mom and Bill were on their way back from spending the day in town, and Bill suggested that mom call me and Jack so the phone wouldn't be ringing when they got home. Haha. The result of this morning's blood test was that her blood values were "a little bit" elevated according to mom, indicating that there has been a slight decline in her kidney function. But instead of putting her in the hospital for a 3-day intravenous treatment, Dr. Kubac decided to try a one-week switch to a different drug (a diuretic, I think, but mom couldn't remember the name of it). So the plan is for her to take this new drug for one week, then go back for another blood test NEXT Friday, and if nothing has changed, then Kubac might order the 3-day hospital experiment. Bill has rearranged his schedule so he can come back down next Thursday evening for a repeat performance.
6:45PM update: Bill called to give me more info out of mom's earshot. Kubac had spent a good hour with them, explaining the situation and giving them as much info as they could absorb. The big picture is that the changes in mom's kidney function previously were small increments, but the changes are getting larger, indicating that while she is currently holding her own, her body is having a harder time staying in balance and her systems are failing. There is some hormone that the heart puts out to manage the kidneys, and a normal reading is 400 - 800. Mom's level today was 1,471. Dr. Kubac gave her the option of going into the hospital for IV diuretic, or trying a new drug that is supposed to be easier on the kidneys but more effective. She opted to try the new drug for one week. The drug is so new that BiMart didn't even have it, but the pharmacist called around and found some other place in town that had it. If it is not effective at reducing the fluid in her body by next Friday, she has agreed to a 3-day hospital stay, which Kubac said is really just a stop-gap measure to get rid of the extra fluid, not a cure. Mom doesn't want more than that one hospital stay, so it seems to me that even if it's effective, after that her body would just gradually fill up with excess fluid again. But I guess we cross that bridge when we get to it.
Bill had been planning to take vacation this week so he could be there while she was in the hospital, but in light of the change of plans today, he postponed his vacation so he can come back next Thursday and be there the following week if needed. Dr. Kubac said that he could arange things so that if hospitalization is warranted, he can put her in right away next Friday so she would be done by Monday.
Bill says that in spite of her talk about how she has had a good long life, kids who love her, and she is ready to go be with Ray, etc., he thinks she is a teeny bit scared. I talked to Bill a bit about the hospice idea, and he thinks that mom is thinking of it as a service that you only get if you are no longer able to care for yourself, and since she doesn't consider herself to be at that point yet, she isn't ready to agree to it. Maybe I can convince her to let the social worker come out for a visit so she can ask questions about the service.
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