Wow! It seems like anything that could go wrong for her has. I can't imagine! I'm glad she seems to be on the mend now, though. No more set backs now!

that's awful for her.
i hope she cont's to recover and feel better soon.
that's a lot to go thru.

Went up to see her today. This hospital I geuss has a policy that a person with a new chest tube has to be in ICU! So she is on complete bedrest. Because of her skin and bones state and poor nutrition she has several bedsores and between those and the chest tube she is in a lot of pain. I don't understand why when she had a chest tube for 2 weeks she didn't have any pain with it but this new one is excrutiating. I think she will be released to an extended care hospital. I wish she still had a feeding tube in. They are just relying on her to eat good.

Doydie, I had not been aware that staples could come out on their own after surgery. But, on the local news tonight, the same thing had happened to a young woman who'd had the surgery 5 years ago when she was just 19.

She lost her insurance several months ago when she lost her job, so now she has to raise $5,000 to get it fixed. (The staples are still in place, but loose enough to allow food to leak into her abdomen.) She wasn't in the hospital when they interviewed her, but she needs to get there pretty soon or she'll die.

I'm glad your SIL is on the mend. Such a mystery why the new tube is so painful! I pray she will continue to improve. :hug: Thanks for the update!

doydie - DH and I have started "juicing." We still eat whatever.

Of course we do choose to attempt making good choices. Adding FIVE servings of fruits and veggies proves challenging.

We have had a juicer for AGES and never really used it until just recently. We had a book for AGES and never opened it up. But recently, we thought we would give it a try.

We even tried a green concoction. Not my favorite but it amazes me how several carrots, green kale, and parsley can be stuffed into the shoot and make a small sweet drink. (it tasted like carrots, not my favorite but not awful.) Other than the color, I had no problem with drinking it and I got the nutrients which made it easy.

two major favorites:

Strawberries/orange/banana - one 8 oz. glass has 7 strawberries, an orange and a banana. More than I would eat in one sitting but easy to drink. I get at least 2 servings and it tastes amazing.

I also did a drink that was one apple and one pear. It was really good. Also something that I may not eat in one sitting.

So she can have her "bad" diet but also eat well. Juicing is easier than I thought it would be. Clean up was also VERY easy. Rinsing the pulp from the machine was not an issue.:)

Also, from Costco, we buy the Yoplait smoothie. That has frozen yogurt and lots of frozen fruit, strawberries and blueberries mainly. It just takes nonfat milk but we have used water instead (tastes fine).

Strawberries have lots of antioxidants.

Juicing also makes people feel full, strange as that may seem. Will it make me lose weight? Doubt it but I am doing it more to get in the proper nutrients AND more important, LIKE the drink. Preparation is no big deal. Thinks like cantelope are put in with the rind.

Long post but it could help.:)

Thanks for the info on the juicer. This lady is on Medicaid, food stamps and has very little money. I was hoping they would send her to Select long term care hospital but they plan on sending her home next week. She will have to go to PT and OT several times a week. They don't even have enough money for gas to go to the grocery store! But they all chain smoke!

So I guess we will be a taxi for awhile. She has always loved being a 'victim', one of the proudest moments in her life was when she finally got herself, her husband and both her children ages 18 and 20 on SSD! I don't know how she did it, she got SSD for obesity for the 16 year old and social anxiety disorder for the 20 year old. She is always borrowing but never repaying or returning. I don't know how many pieces of furniture we have given to her and then she sells them for the money. So I'm not sure what the next weeks are going to be like. On the good side she has gained 20 pounds in the hospital. She was 88 pounds when admitted. She is 5'5''!

OK, I'm done venting

What a sad situation all around. You're a good SIL trying to help out even though it's not reciprocated. Take care of yourself, doydie, stress as you know, is the bad guy.

Kind of ironic to discover the talk about juicing since my son and his family were here Saturday and my 13 year old grandson is into it. He's very athletic, especially basketball since he's tall for his age so is interested in healthy eating.......along with the candy, etc.!! Sounds like some of his concoctions are good, but others with more veggies were "bleh"!

She is going home tomorrow. My only fear is her not getting the proper nutrtion. She said her doctor told her no restrictions. Maybe he is thinking she needs to eat anything she wants, get muscle and fat wieght up and then start eating properly. They are also finding a new family practice MD for her, her last one just had to many patinets and didnd't pay enough attention. How can you let a 5'5'' person get down to 88 pounds?