Coming Home Today

Michele and I had some good talks yesterday with everyone involved, concerning where Dee Dee should go once we check her out of the hospital. Except for Dee Dee. We all know what her opinion is. ;)

The psychiatrist made his opinion clear: Dee Dee should be going to a nursing home. His concerns, though, were pretty much exclusively for our family. It would be too much. She's not sleeping through the night. We're not equipped. It's only going downhill from here. Think of your children. Etc.

I wasn't there for this, but he interviewed Dee Dee for about a minute before he came out and talked to Diane and Michele. He started off by saying that when a patient has Alzheimers, but then Diane stopped him. Dee Dee's doctors had never used that term for her before, apparently. The psychiatrist said he was referring to a broad spectrum of elderly dementia symptoms and then continued.

So clearly, I need some more info on Alzheimers. Does it just refer to elderly dementia? Or forgetfulness? Or what? Or does it even matter?

I think Ace and Diane's concerns were also for our family. Because they know how tough it's been the last week. And Michele and I agree. If last week is the new baseline, our home is not the place for Dee Dee.

However, there are a few main reasons we all agreed to take her back here today:

1) Gardenview has a room available now, but Dee Dee would only stay there temporarily until another room opens up, in maybe two weeks. We remember that last time she changed rooms at Gardenview, Dee Dee was pretty confused. So it makes sense to wait a couple weeks before she goes there.

2) The urinary tract infection is being treated, so she might be less confused than she has been the last week.

3) She's been prescribed a sleep aid - Trazadone, I believe - that should help her sleep better. Warning: one of the possible side effects is confusion. Yikes! But in theory, if she's sleeping better at night, she'll be safer and we'll be saner. It'll be interesting to figure out what time to give her this pill at night. How long does it last? How fast does it knock her out? Or will it just make her groggy but still awake?

4) If things are obviously not better over the next couple days, we're raising the white flag. Dee Dee goes to Gardenview and we go back to taking her on outings just like we did before.

So that's the plan. Michele and I are planning on sleeping in shifts tonight. The thinking is that we can each get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep rather than more hours of fitful dozing.