Janet Whittington

Any help is appreciated..

September 7th- So Mom FINALLY got transferred out of National Park Hospital on Tuesday 9/5 and is now at Little Rock Chi St. Vincent ..

On 8/25, she was suppose to have a feeding tube put in.. I'm not really sure why, or who consented.. She was eating pureed foods WHEN SHE COULD REACH HER TRAY. But they did not do it, at 9PM when family visited, she STILL had not been given another to eat/drink.. so she had been without since midnight the night before... on Monday they had a failed attempt at putting in a feeding tube ...

8/30 when we arrived, her wound vac machine was just unplugged...

She had an episode on 9/1/23, where she was completely unresponsive... when the staff was asked about it, their explanation was " Oh she must just be tired from her bath"..Her vitals on the monitor were BP 86/43 and then 79/44, HR 60 , and o2 86% . Bp was Respiratory was called and even he said that she was not in this condition when he gave her breathing treatment that morning.. according to the nurse, she had not administered any medications..

Now that she has been admitted in LR, they are asking alot of questions as to why this has gone on as long as it has.. Why haven't they preformed procedures on her that they stated she needed... Why didn't they work more toward sending her somewhere that would.. Why did they start wanting to send her to a rehabilition facility the minute they couldn't find a hospital that would do her surgery, KNOWING that she was not in any condition for that. Questions we have also asked, but the answer was always "no beds or no staff ". Maybe now that she is at another hospital we will find out more..

8/16 Today, mom had a pacemaker put in.. what some confusion that was.. Since all of this, she has had a domino effect of problems arise... Post surgery- Vent, infection, drain leakage, being treated for diabetes (that was a new one ) , Trach, MRSA, 75-80 degree temps in her room.. and now having episodes of her heart pausing.. So a pacemaker was put in.. We were looking at possibly bringing her home with home health before this procedure, but now I don't know if that is going to be the best idea.. After her procedure she was put back on a bipap..

On a positive note... prior to this pacemaker procedure, her NG tube was pulled out and she was attempted to eat pureed foods, mashed potatoes, pudding, and thickened liquid ( which she says tastes like shit, but hey, got to get stronger some how )

July 28 at 11:28 AM

Just an update - Mom was never transferred to UAMS... she now has a staph infection in her lungs, at this time the cause is unknown. She needs a certain procedure ( ERCP) that the current hospital is " unable " to do so they are trying to find another hospital that will accept her. However, they have not been able to find one that will accept her that is capable, staffed, and has a bed for her. Pending her ability to recover from the infection, case management is looking into a rehabilitation facility so that she can continue to wean off the Vent and get back to her new normal. As of right now, the closest facility is in Oklahoma. Everything is just a lot right now. Mom is able to communicate with hands, writing, and nodding her head, and she is not tickled about the possibility of going to Oklahoma...

Update -7/10/23 She will be transferred to Little Rock to UAMS. There is a drain that has been leaking so National Park is going to send her once a bed is available. They believe the doctors there can fix this issue.

How we got to this point-

Janet started having stomach cramps the week of June 19th, thinking it was just a stomach bug or something she shook it off. Over the next few days she got worse was unable to eat, felt constantly hot, and started to get short of breath at times.

June 23rd, Janet finally agreed to go to the Emergency Room. Upon triage, labs, a stomach Xray were conducted and we were informed that she had a “hole in her stomach”. She was admitted and scheduled for surgery the following morning. Speaking with the surgeon that was going to do her surgery, we later found out that she did not have a hole in her stomach but had a hole in her Colon. During the surgery, they removed her Gallbladder, Appendix, and part of her Colon. She was left “open” until they decided if they may have to go back in or if there was any infection to be concerned about. She has been on a Ventilator post-surgery.

Multiple times from the 23rd to the 29th her oxygen levels with start to decline, and staff would intervene. She has also been given blood to hopefully help with her oxygen levels..

June 29th, a Bronchoscopy was performed to go into her lungs and “wash them out” so that maybe it will help with her breathing due to the build-up of mucous in the lungs. They also went back into the abdomen and checked for infection before they did close her incisions.

Between June 29th and July 4th she has had her vent settings adjusted and tried to see if she is able to breathe on her own, she will do okay for an hour or so but then it has to be turned back on

July 4th, another Bronchoscopy was performed..

July 6th, after a couple of attempts at weaning her off the vent, a Trach was placed.. The physician that I spoke with believes that this will be easier on her to wean off of.

At this time, we do not know how long this process is going to take. We are hoping that she does not have to be relocated due to insurance guidelines. I am sure I am leaving out some details but this is how we got to this point. She is able to communicate with us some, she can point to letters to spell out important words. She seems to be aware of almost everything going on around her.