Tell me your experience (good or bad). I need to hear it straight.
My mom is in the hospital right now - day 8 - for a major COPD flair. It's like she was fine and then on deaths door within hours. When I visited her yesterday she didn't have the strength to even pull herself up into a seated position. She is sleeping most of the day with the oxygen in her nose. Four straight nights of trying a bipap machine have been mostly unsuccessful. She can't tolerate the mask.
She's also been diagnosed with Afib and they are consulting a cardiologist to confirm a pulmonary hypertension diagnosis. Yesterday her pulse was sustained at 150 even when they added a beta blocker.
As of yesterday they were talking about discharging her tomorrow. I think that's changed now. I'm hoping that our case manager will help us get her into a proper care facility because I can't care for her.
Prior to this hospitalization she was living independently without oxygen. Her doctor said oxygen will be required 24/7 now. My concern is that she's so weak it's hard to picture her improving. Yesterday her doctor said her blood gas levels were the worst of her whole hospital stay. They said she scored an 8 on the BODE scale.
What should I expect to see as far as her improvement? I see plenty of comments on here of people getting out of the hospital after a 9+ day stage but what was life like immediately after discharge? I'm her only child and live out of state from her. She can't be left alone and I can't be there to care for her.