Moms in hospital. Help here can mean a lot

[xeon1980]

  My mom has had COPD, emphysema for awhile now.   It was never critical,  but she had to take inhalers to treat it, and she has quit smoking about a year ago.  Her breathing seemed to be improving.  

  She has severe kidney disease and had to get an operation done on her arm for future dialysis treatments.  The cut on her arm was really big,  and her arm blew up.  Shortly after the surgery she had trouble breathing and went to the hospital.  At first they thought it was a touch of pneumonia, than later they said it was her ephysema acting up.   They are putting her on steroids and shes been in the hosp for a week.  She seems to be getting worse to me.  Her breathing is not getting better,  her feet and legs are blown up swollen.  and im afraid she is going to die there.   This all happened right after the operation so it has me thinking there is something more going on here.  They checked her heart, blood tests etc,  everything seems to be coming out ok from my knowledge.   I just am not sure what to do or what is going on.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I would greatly appreciate. it

sincerely
paul.

[Jenn12546]

I am so sorry for your mom....this all must be very scary for her. Sounds like she has quite a bit of fluid overload from what you describe which does tax the heart and lungs. Because she already has problems with her lungs, she would be more vulnerable to an exacerbation of her disease. Please bear in mind that I am not a doctor, just a former nurse. I am only guessing based on what you have written.
I am betting that the doctors are working very hard to get the swelling to go down in her legs, getting rid of this extra fluid in her body should help her some. She is a complex patient in that she has multiple health issues which makes it tougher to treat I would guess.
I hope that she gets back on the road to recovery soon. I will be thinking of her as well as you.
Jenn

[xeon1980]

now they have her in cardiac intensive care unit :-(