Ok so this is my first blog. Hope I'm doing this right. This site can be a little confusing. I think I may have created two of the same blog by mistake. So ignore the second one if I did.

My name is Bethanni or Beth for short. I am a computer tech for apple computers. I recently put my career on hold to stay home and take care of my mom in law to keep her out of nursing homes. Both of us worked in nursing homes as C.N.As for several years, so put her one was something my husband and I promised we would never do. I made sure I got the right training and know how to take care of her when the time came. So here we are.

My mother in laws name is Linda. I met Linda when I was a 12 year old run away. My mom did not give much about me at the time so Linda took me in and mothered me the best she could. She was also the single mother of three sons whom I became very good friends with over time. Linda was always a good mother to me and was always there when I needed her to be. After I married her youngest son, she became a permanent part of my life and has been for the past 24 years.

Linda suffered a massive ischemic stroke to the right side of her brain on August 11th 2010. She had been living with us for the past few years, so at the time of the stroke she was not alone and we were able to get her to the hospital with in 5 minutes of is starting. WIth my back ground and experience I knew she was having a stroke at the time and was able to act quickly. Thank the gods I was home, cause I think it saved her life and may make a great difference in her healing progress.

The first three days were pretty touch and go for her in I.C.U. See Linda has several other health issues that have been making things very hard for her. On top of the stroke she has congenital heart failure, C.O.P.D and very back rheumatoid arthritis. Her heart is very week and does not pump right. Her lungs are severely damaged from smoking all the years she did and the arthritis just causes deformation in her hands and feet and causes her a great deal of pain. Once they were able to get everything under control she was then moved from I.C.U to her own room where we spent 3 weeks until bringing her home.

We took her to what is supposed to be one of the best hospitals in Montana and ended up being very disappointed with them and not wanting to ever take her there again. Its a heart specialty hospital and I think they concentrate on hearts more than other issues. The care she got while there was ok, as long as we staid there 24 hours around the clock and made sure they took proper care of her. We had 3 incidents with neglect from nurses that put Linda's life in danger so between myself, my husband and his older brother we worked it out so one of us was with Linda at the hospital around the clock. We hardly ever saw her doctor the 3 weeks she was there. They hardly told us a thing when it came to how much damage and how bad the stroke really was. Then they ended up giving her a staph infection. MRSA to be exact. She is not infected yet, but carries it in the tissue of her throat. While at the hospital there were 4 cases of MRSA on the same floor Linda was on so it was a surprise when she tested positive for it when they swabbed her nose. WHen it came time to release her and take her home with us, the hospital was of no support. THey thought Linda should just straight to a nursing home. I had to go to a home care agency to get the help we would need and to get all the right equipment in the home to take care of her. The hospital even waited until a Friday to release her, waited until the last minute to get us her med list and made taking her home very stressful and chaotic do to the fact we had to go to 6 different pharmacies to fill all her meds.

Have to step away from computer for a while. WIll try to finish this later. THank you.