Agnes Mauldin Update

1/4/08

2009-01-04T22:01:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone, This will probably be my last post here. I just wanted to post mom's obituary. Mrs. Agnes B. Mauldin - age 66 of Pascagoula, MS passed away on Thursday, December 25, 2008 in Munford, TN. She is survived by her mother, Annie Lois Bedwell of Port Arthur, TX; son, Joseph Mauldin of Munford, TN; daughter, Lydia Greenlees of Waterford, MI; 2 sisters, Betty Reid of Wiggins, MS and Peggy Hughes of Nederland, TX; and 4 grandchildren, Austin, Ashlyn, Lauren, and Alison. Services were held on Tueday, December 30, 2008 at 2PM at Hulett~Winstead Funeral Home in Hattiesburg, MS. Burial was at Highland Cemetery in Hattiesburg, MS.

Thanks for all the prayer, support, cards, love, etc. that everyone has given and are still giving.

Love ya'll, Joey

12/27/08 Update

2008-12-27T20:27:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone, Thanks to everyone for what ya'll have done over this time. I wanted to let everyone know mom (Agnes) has passed away. She passed on 12/25/08. The wake will be Monday 12/29 between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the funeral service will be 12/30 at 2 p.m. Everything will be held at Hulett~Winstead Funeral Home, 205 Bay Street, Hattiesburg, MS 39401.

12/20/08 Update

2008-12-20T11:25:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone, Mom has finally made it out of the hospital!!!! She is back at Covington Manor Nursing home. She is doing well she seems to be feeling a whole lot better! She looks a lot better to me. She is in room 304, the same room she was in before when she was there. There hasn't been to much of a change in things otherwise. Hope everyone has a good Christmas. Thanks, Joey

11/27/08 Update

2008-11-27T10:58:00.002-06:00

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let you know mom is still in the hospital. They are under the impression that her cancer is back. They are doing a blood test to find out for sure but the results will not be back for about two weeks. I'll update as soon as I find out something.

11/10/08 Update

2008-11-10T10:22:00.002-06:00

Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know mom is in the hospital again. She is receiving some fluids from being dehydrated. She also received some blood and platelets. When she gets discharged from the hospital we will be getting her into a nursing home so she can get care we can not provide for her. When I have more details I will let everyone know.

11/5/08 Update

2008-11-05T11:20:00.002-06:00

Mom has refused physical therapy the last few times the have come. This has caused her to be dropped from all her services. As of today they are coming to discharge her. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we do not know what else is to come. The only thing I know is that God is still in control no matter what happens. ---Joe

10/30/2008 Update

2008-10-30T15:02:00.003-05:00

I wanted to send some correct information since there seems to be some incorrect info floating around. She has not had a stroke. She is not paralyzed from a stroke. Her lose of use in her limbs was from the edema from the chemo. not a stroke. She does have some movement in her legs and arm. She will require a significant amount of physical therapy to regain the full use of her limbs.

10/25/08 Update

2008-10-25T13:10:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, I now it's been a while seen I posted. Things have not changed much. I really thought that she would be up and walking by now. She has nothing to look forward to for motivation to go forward. The depression seems to be overtaking. She can not see a light at the end of the tunnel even with everything she has come through. I have tried every idea that I can come up with and nothing seems to work. She is doing the bare minimum of activity which is not enough to get better. At the rate she is going she is falling downhill slowly everyday. I am out of ideas of things that can motivate her to get up and live. If anyone has anything that may help please let me know. She has more and more issues that are arising all of which are from laying in bed and not trying to get up. I'm at a lost and don't know what else to do. We go 4 steps back for every 1 step forward. It is very frustrating to say the least.

9/27/08 Update

2008-09-27T14:46:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone, Sorry about the time frame, there has been no spare time. Things haven't changed much. She is doing physical therapy on her legs none on her arm. She has regaigned a lot of range of motion back in her limbs. She has made it to a point where she can sit about three hours in a wheel chair!!! Her arthritis has worsened since she has been in bed for so long and we can't get any medicine to help with that. We are at a stand still though not having any way to transport her places. We have missed many doctors apoinments. So many that her doctor is no longer ordering things for her (ie: medicine, lab work, etc.). Each trip in an ambulence is $650.00 each way ($300 for the ambulence + $9.08 per mile they drive). We have started to look for a wheel chair van that we can buy so we can transport her where she needs to go. Please come in agreement with us in prayer for a wheel chair van so we can get her where she needs to go and for the insurance company not to stop everything because there is no 'doctor' overseeing her. Thanks for everyone's support it has been impossible for me to work in the last two months with all the time requirements she needs from us.

August 27, 2008 Update

2008-08-27T11:31:00.001-05:00

First mom had been doing great, the physical therapy department at the nursing facility was great. She had regained movement in her right arm and both feet. As of last Monday the 18^th the insurance company decided they were not going to cover the rehab any longer. The insurance company gave her 2 days to be out or they were no longer going to pay anything. The nursing facility asked them to give us at least 3 days since that is the standard for this type of situation. The insurance company agreed and gave us 3 days. That gave us Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and she was discharged Friday the 22^nd. On Wednesday and Thursday the pastor at our church and another person from church helped me get the garage enclosed and turn it into a room for mom. We got a bed, lift, and wheelchair delivered on Friday afternoon and the ambulance brought her about 9:00p.m. that night. There was a lady from home health that came out Saturday and got her in the system. Now we have ran into other problems with the insurance, come to find out her insurance doesn’t cover non-emergency transportation so that means we can’t get her to a doctor. As of right now the only way she can be transported is by stretcher. There are some other sources but none come this far out of Memphis. Without her being seen by a doctor she can’t get any supplies or equipment ordered that she needs and can’t get any refills on her medicine. She has not received any physical therapy since she has been out, so her body is starting to regress and lose all she has gained. Physical therapy is one of the things the doctors have to order. All I can get from the insurance company is that they tell me to put her on Medicaid, put her in a hospice home and leave her to die. The leave her to die is not there exact words but it is the just of what they want to happen. I feel that they are doing this because she is costing them money and they don’t want to pay for anything. I have been told about the hospice route before and what will happen is they will take her off her chemo medicine (actually all her medicine) unless she gets a cold, they will never do physical therapy on her again to help her get better. Medicaid will then give her $40/ month for any expenses she may have or need also when she passes they will confiscate all her belongs and sell them to cover any medical expenses she had. Mom’s cancer is in remission and she is not terminal at this point and she has a long life ahead of her and I don’t feel that sticking her in a home to lay there until she dies is a route that needs to be taken at the moment. If they would/could do physical therapy on her legs and help her get strength back in them she would be able to get up and start living a normal life, because that is really the only thing holding her back right now. That is where we are right now. I’ll let you know how things are going as we progress.

7/23/08 Update

2008-07-23T14:20:00.001-05:00

The transition is a little better. There are still a few bugs to work out though. She is in room 302 at Covington Manor. ----Joey

7/19/08 Update

2008-07-19T20:43:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know mom is out of the hospital! She is now at Covington Manor, which is a skilled nursing facility / rehab hospital. Please keep her in your prayers that this transition will be short and she will be home soon. She still cannot move her right arm. With physical therapy I believe she should be home in a month or so! If you wish to send cards please send them here and I will bring them up. They do not handle mail for her. Our address is 176 Connecticut Ave., Munford, TN 38058 Thanks, Joey

7/12/08 Update

2008-07-12T16:24:00.001-05:00

Sorry for being so long getting you an update. Time just seems to get away too quickly. There has been no significant change. She still has no movement in her right arm and cannot get up. The doctors seemed stumped about her arm. She is getting ready to get out of the hospital though, sometime within the next 2 weeks. More than likely she will be going to a skilled nursing facility close to our house. It is called Covington Manner. While there, she will continue working with physical therapy, etc. to help regain her strength. Our prayer is that her stay there will be short and she will be able to come home in about a month or so. Once she gets to a point where she can get up out of bed, she can come back here. We will be getting a shed delivered Monday and once everything is cleared out, we will start enclosing the garage and turning it into a room for her, we have figured the cost to be about $2000 - $2500 with me doing the work. She still needs prayer for her arm, physical strength, and to come home soon. Thanks, Joey

6/18/08 Update

2008-06-18T23:27:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone, Thanks for everything!!! I have great news, her cancer is in remission!!!!! Thanks for all the prayers her attitude has turned around for the good! She still has a long way to go with physical therapy, etc. probably a couple of months to get her where she needs to be. She is going to have to get a peg tube put in so she can start getting the proper nutrition. Once she gets better they can remove it. She still can not move her right arm, they are doing test still to find out what might be going on. We are also looking into enclosing our garage so that when she is able to come home she will have her own room and a place she can stay long term. Please continue to pray 1)for her arm, that the doctors will be able to find out what is going on and be able to do something about it, 2)that her recovery will be swift and she will be able to come home soon, 3)that the funds will be provide to enclose our garage to make her a place to stay and have it ready by the time she needs it. I can not express how greatful I am to everyone for everything they have done to help. It just shows God's glory through everyone of ya'll! May God's blessing rain down on ya'll as ya'll have shown blessings to us. Thanks, Joey

6/2/08 Update

2008-06-02T14:20:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, I wanted to send out an update on how things are going. Mom is in a regular room now, 454 Crews wing. She is doing much better physically. She still requires dialasys about every three - four days. She is having a lot of depresion though. She is having trouble with her right arm, she has little to no movement in it. Please continue with the prayers and cards to help cheer her spirits. If anyone is around the area she is out of isolation and can have visitors if anyone wants to come see her. She may not be able to answer the phone since she is having trouble with her arm.

Please continue to pray for her kidneys to start working correctlly, her right arm to start working, the spirit of depresion not to have any power over her, and for her to be able to come home soon.

5/26/08 Update

2008-05-26T15:32:00.002-05:00

Hi, Things are going well. Sorry it has been a while for an update, I popped my hip out of place and have not been able to walk since last Tuesday. This is the first day I've been able to get up. All mom's numbers are looking good! She has had a physical therapy consult on Thursday and they should be starting that soon. She still requires dialysis but at least her kidney numbers are almost to a normal range! She is a lot more talkative now and has been giving the nurses a hard time. Ha, ha. She is tired of being in bed and is very sore, hopefully with the physical therapy she should be up and going soon. Things are looking on the bright side and hopefully within a few weeks she should be able to get out of the hospital! Thanks for everything!!!!!!!!!!, Joey

5/19/08 Update

2008-05-19T21:23:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, I have some good news! Mom is now out of ICU and has been moved to a regular room in the hospital. She is in room 465 Crews wing. She is still on dialysis due to her kidneys not filtering her blood and she still has very little strength. Thanks for all the prayers I'm sure without them things would not have turned out this good. Please keep her your prayers for her kidneys to start functioning correctly and for her strength to return. I truly believe she could come home in a few weeks with the return of these two items. Thanks, Joey

5/12/08 Update

2008-05-12T10:35:00.002-05:00

Hi all, Mom has been very talkative this morning. She is still very weak though.

The doctors spoke to us this morning and they are still going to go ahead with the dialysis today. Her kidneys are not cleaning out the huge amount of extra toxins that are in her blood stream. The doctors feel that by doing the dialysis and cleaning her blood out, that it would relieve the added work load on her kidneys and they would then be able to function normally.

She is still in ICU for the time being. Her white blood cells are still coming up. Her platelets are still low though. They have ordered three times the amount of platelets then they normally do for this procedure due to them being so low. We believe (my sister and me) that her other counts have not really come up much due to all the extra toxins in her blood stream and once they get rid of this stuff her counts will start going back up. I'll let everyone know how things turn out as soon as possible.

Thanks again for everything, Joey

5/10/08 Update

2008-05-10T17:51:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, The prayers have been working!!!! Mom was supposed to have dialysis on 5/8, the doctor that was going to do the procedure had three surgeries that day and was unable to do the procedure. On 5/9 they checked all her blood work, etc. and found that her kidneys had started working right and they did not have to do the dialysis!!!!! Also they found that there was no more sign of infection!!! Her white cell counts have started to go up, her platelets are still low but the doctors seem to think they will start increasing over the next few days. The doctors said that as long as this trend continues they may be able to move her out of ICU on Monday. This has been a great turn around!!! God has shown Himself strong again, when the door was shut and it seemed that all hope was lost, He proved that He was still in control!!! Thanks to everyone that came in prayerful agreement with us that mom would pull through this! Please continue to pray that things will continue getting better and that her strength will return to her. She will have to undergo physical therapy when she gets out to a regular room. Thanks again to all!!!! ---Joey

5/7/08 Update

2008-05-07T20:46:00.002-05:00

Hi, Thanks for all the prayers!!!! Mom's kidneys, they thought might be getting better. But, as of today they will be doing dialysis on her tomorrow (5/8). This is a very dangerous situation though. Her platelets are still very low and her heart rate is very fast. It has to be done, but they are worried about her either having a heart attack, bleeding out since her blood can not clot, and/or developing another infection. Please keep the prayers going! I'll let everyone know how things turn out. (It may be a couple of days). Thanks again to everyone. ----Joey

comments

2008-05-04T09:12:00.002-05:00

Hi, I have made it where people can leave comments and questions. I will try to respond to them as soon as I can, (it may take a couple of days). Thanks, Joey

5/4/08 Update

2008-05-04T08:33:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone, Mom has not been doing very well. She has a very bad infection and has been moved to ICU. They did some blood samples but have not found the exact bug that has caused her infection. Her blood counts have not gone back up yet either. She needs prayer for them to find the infections and get rid of it, for her blood count to increase, for her Chemo side effects to go away, and for God to control the doctor's and nurses hands and to give them a way of healing for her. This is very dangerous , the doctor said if she doesn't respond and start getting better within 48 - 72 hrs her body would probably start shutting down. Thanks for all the prayers, Joey

4/28/08 update

2008-04-28T17:58:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, Sorry it's been a while. Things have not been very good. Mom is having a lot of bad side effects this round. She has just received her last Chemo. medicine for this round yesterday. So now her body just has to get better. I have been mentally and physically exhausted and have not been able to make a complete thought. That is why I haven't updated recently. Lydia has come in to help for two weeks so I can get a break. Mom has gained 45 pounds from water retention due to the side effects of the Chemo. They are giving her some medicine to help to take off some of this gain but it is a slow process, so they don't make her heart stop working. She has been in constant pain due to this gain, and has had trouble breathing. She can not physically lift her legs and can barely lift her arms. Her nausea has been worse this time. She has been sick everyday. She is mentally exhausted from dealing with everything. We try to help her keep a positive attitude, but she is just having trouble dealing with everything.

Her insurance company is still giving us a runaround. I keep calling, so hopefully one day they will start paying some of these bills.

I have not been able to work in months, since all this has started. I wanted to thank everyone that has helped with things.

Mom really appreciates all the cards and prayers from everyone. Thanks again for everything, Joey

4/21/08 update

2008-04-21T14:05:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, Sorry it's been a few days. Things haven't been very well. Mom has been having very bad side effects from the Chemo. this time. A lot worse than either time before. I don't want to go into a lot of details, but this is the worse she has been. The doctors are giving her stuff to help remedy the side effects. But, they are very serious and dangerous! This is still early in this round to start having side effects, so there will be at least two - three more weeks of side effects. I will try to let people know what is going on as soon as I can. It is hard to get the time while I'm helping her seemingly continuously. I just ask that everyone continues praying for her and our family! I am also sorry I can't answer the phone as calls come in. There is usually too much stuff going on here in the room, I am not trying to ignore anyone. Thanks, Joey

4/18/08 update

2008-04-18T19:53:00.002-05:00

Thanks for everyones prayers! I just wanted to let ya'll know things have been very rough today. Mom had her spinal tap Chemo. and is was very rough on her. I just ask that everyone keep praying for her to have a good attitude and make it through all these rough parts. Thanks, joey