Dee Dee is still in the hospital, but doing fine. The sedatives they gave her in the ambulance took a while to wear off, but as of last night she was walking around and chatting normally. She no longer has back pain, which tells me it was mostly just pain from not being situated in the hospital bed correctly.
The reason she's still in the hospital is because the doctor wants her to have some more physical and occupational therapy, and he also wants to get a psychological evaluation. I think the psychiatrist was there with her as of this morning - we'll know more soon. I was hoping to have her back with us yesterday, but it was not to be.
I'll be visiting her later on today to check on her, but I'm starting to hear murmurs about her not coming back to our house when she's released. I haven't spoken to any doctors or to Ace/Diane yet, but I think there may be concern that unless the mental issues get better, our house isn't the best place for her.
I have high hopes that if the increase in dementia was caused by the urinary tract infection, she will become more coherent over the next few days. I would also add that I don't think her having more dementia affects her staying here per se. If she wants to talk to me all day about how she got married at age 15 and has parties at night with her brothers and sisters, that's fine by me.
But I also see that if the mental issues cause her to crawl around on the floor and zonk out for hours in our foyer, that's probably not the best situation.
So we'll see how things develop. As always, I'll keep the blog updated.
Showing posts with label doctors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doctors. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
To the Hospital
Michele and I just got back from Missouri Baptist hospital, where Dee Dee is spending the night. Diane was with her when we left, and Ace is probably heading there at some point, too.
(By the way, Ace took her to the doctor on Friday and did indeed find that Dee Dee had a urinary tract infection. So Roxana was correct in that guess. We started her on antibiotics last night, and in fact she seemed not at all combative or agitated last night.)
Dee Dee is mostly fine. She's pretty alert. X-rays and MRI (or maybe CT scan?) came back negative. She's complaining about back pain and won't/can't walk. If she had walked for the doctors tonight, they would have sent her home with us, in fact.
We were hanging out at home today while my mom and dad took the girls to the movies. I was getting ready to take Dee Dee to White Castle when I find her on the floor in her room, sitting up. She's scooting across the floor. I rush over to her and offer to help her up. She strongly discouraged me from helping her up and said she just wanted to rest.
Alright - I can't help someone up who wants to stay on the floor. But instead of resting, she scooted into the hallway and then laid down for a few seconds, then sat up and scooted more, then laid down, etc. All the while she just told me she was fine - she just needed to rest.
She eventually scooted to the front foyer on the hard-wood floor and laid down on her back, eyes closed. It really looked like she was asleep. Her breathing and pulse were normal. But we couldn't wake her up for anything. Michele was yelling into her good ear and got no response.
When we tried to help her up, she strongly resisted. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't talking, but she definitely wanted to stay right where she was. It was the strangest thing. Whenever we tried to cover her up or hold her hand, she strongly waved or kicked us away.
Eventually, after consulting Ace and Diane and the on-call doctor, we called 911. They whisked her away. As they lifted her into the ambulance, she was yelling at the EMS guys to leave her there. All still with her eyes closed.
Once in the ER, Michele tells me they had a normal conversation. She was a little groggy from the sedative the EMS guys gave her (to get her to calm down enough for an I.V.) but otherwise seemed normal. They ran a bunch of tests over the next few hours, but they all came back negative.
She's complaining of back pain. At one point she said that she hurt her back falling out of her chair in her bedroom. But then later she said her back was fine until she had to lay so long in the hospital bed. So who knows. Nothing's broken, though.
The next step is to get her to walk. Michele and I are worried that once she's checked into the hospital, there might be a slow recovery. That's what happened in February when she went to the hospital for a bowel impaction and then got dehydrated and wound up having to spend weeks in a nursing home.
We'll keep the blog updated as we learn more.
(By the way, Ace took her to the doctor on Friday and did indeed find that Dee Dee had a urinary tract infection. So Roxana was correct in that guess. We started her on antibiotics last night, and in fact she seemed not at all combative or agitated last night.)
Dee Dee is mostly fine. She's pretty alert. X-rays and MRI (or maybe CT scan?) came back negative. She's complaining about back pain and won't/can't walk. If she had walked for the doctors tonight, they would have sent her home with us, in fact.
We were hanging out at home today while my mom and dad took the girls to the movies. I was getting ready to take Dee Dee to White Castle when I find her on the floor in her room, sitting up. She's scooting across the floor. I rush over to her and offer to help her up. She strongly discouraged me from helping her up and said she just wanted to rest.
Alright - I can't help someone up who wants to stay on the floor. But instead of resting, she scooted into the hallway and then laid down for a few seconds, then sat up and scooted more, then laid down, etc. All the while she just told me she was fine - she just needed to rest.
She eventually scooted to the front foyer on the hard-wood floor and laid down on her back, eyes closed. It really looked like she was asleep. Her breathing and pulse were normal. But we couldn't wake her up for anything. Michele was yelling into her good ear and got no response.
When we tried to help her up, she strongly resisted. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't talking, but she definitely wanted to stay right where she was. It was the strangest thing. Whenever we tried to cover her up or hold her hand, she strongly waved or kicked us away.
Eventually, after consulting Ace and Diane and the on-call doctor, we called 911. They whisked her away. As they lifted her into the ambulance, she was yelling at the EMS guys to leave her there. All still with her eyes closed.
Once in the ER, Michele tells me they had a normal conversation. She was a little groggy from the sedative the EMS guys gave her (to get her to calm down enough for an I.V.) but otherwise seemed normal. They ran a bunch of tests over the next few hours, but they all came back negative.
She's complaining of back pain. At one point she said that she hurt her back falling out of her chair in her bedroom. But then later she said her back was fine until she had to lay so long in the hospital bed. So who knows. Nothing's broken, though.
The next step is to get her to walk. Michele and I are worried that once she's checked into the hospital, there might be a slow recovery. That's what happened in February when she went to the hospital for a bowel impaction and then got dehydrated and wound up having to spend weeks in a nursing home.
We'll keep the blog updated as we learn more.
Friday, August 28, 2009
"The Party's Over"
Michele here. I haven't posted in quite a while - since it stopped being fun to talk about how Dee Dee was doing. As Brian has been documenting, she has been growing progressively worse.
Brian did a great job of recapping last night's excitement, but I have a few details to add. Dee Dee was urgent to get out of the house last night for the family party to which I was not invited. After our little walk in the rain around 2 am (Dee Dee fully dressed but without a sweater or jacket, and me in my nightgown and bare feet), I coaxed Dee Dee into pajamas and persuaded her (I thought) that the party was postponed until tomorrow because of the rain outside. Ten minutes later, she was fully dressed again and headed for the door. She spent a full hour circling the house from one door to the next, trying each one and moving on. I might have considered going back to bed, but she consistently parked her walker and kept trying to leave without it. (This morning she explained to me that there were no walkers allowed at the party.) So I busied myself in the family room and kitchen - making lunches, folding laundry, cleaning out the fridge - so that I could keep an eye on her.
Eventually, she got tired and went to bed, around 4:30. I set myself up on the couch for the night, to be sure I heard her if she got up again. Which she did, at 5:30. She insisted that I come stand in her room and listen to everything she had to say. I cut her off after a couple minutes, telling her I had to sleep. She became extremely agitated by this, demanding that I listen to her. When I asked her if her story was related to the party, she gave me a puzzled look, and replied, "No, the party's over."
I left her room sooner than she wanted and returned to the couch. Over the next hour, she filled an entire notepad with notes about the special telegrams she needed to send to all of her family all over the world (relatives in Norway, Ireland, and Europe, which, to my knowledge, do not exist).
All morning she has been very anxious and demanding of my time. She keeps pulling me into a room where we can talk privately - away from Louisa's ears - and the things she is saying, I have to admit, make no sense. One sentence doesn't follow coherently from another, but each time I interrupt to ask a question, she accuses me of not believing her.
Needless to say, five days away is too long to wait to see the doctor. My mom is calling this morning to see if we can get in earlier.
The woman living in my house bears little to no resemblance to the grandma I remember. She is becoming increasingly self-consumed, demanding, and accusatory. It is so hard to believe when you know the incredibly sweet and selfless woman she has always been. I am praying that the doctor will have medications to deal with these new delusional symptoms. We need a big improvement, quickly, for her to be able to stay here with us.
As for me, my aunt is coming for a visit today, and I am planning a nap for the three hours that Louisa is at kindergarten.
Brian did a great job of recapping last night's excitement, but I have a few details to add. Dee Dee was urgent to get out of the house last night for the family party to which I was not invited. After our little walk in the rain around 2 am (Dee Dee fully dressed but without a sweater or jacket, and me in my nightgown and bare feet), I coaxed Dee Dee into pajamas and persuaded her (I thought) that the party was postponed until tomorrow because of the rain outside. Ten minutes later, she was fully dressed again and headed for the door. She spent a full hour circling the house from one door to the next, trying each one and moving on. I might have considered going back to bed, but she consistently parked her walker and kept trying to leave without it. (This morning she explained to me that there were no walkers allowed at the party.) So I busied myself in the family room and kitchen - making lunches, folding laundry, cleaning out the fridge - so that I could keep an eye on her.
Eventually, she got tired and went to bed, around 4:30. I set myself up on the couch for the night, to be sure I heard her if she got up again. Which she did, at 5:30. She insisted that I come stand in her room and listen to everything she had to say. I cut her off after a couple minutes, telling her I had to sleep. She became extremely agitated by this, demanding that I listen to her. When I asked her if her story was related to the party, she gave me a puzzled look, and replied, "No, the party's over."
I left her room sooner than she wanted and returned to the couch. Over the next hour, she filled an entire notepad with notes about the special telegrams she needed to send to all of her family all over the world (relatives in Norway, Ireland, and Europe, which, to my knowledge, do not exist).
All morning she has been very anxious and demanding of my time. She keeps pulling me into a room where we can talk privately - away from Louisa's ears - and the things she is saying, I have to admit, make no sense. One sentence doesn't follow coherently from another, but each time I interrupt to ask a question, she accuses me of not believing her.
Needless to say, five days away is too long to wait to see the doctor. My mom is calling this morning to see if we can get in earlier.
The woman living in my house bears little to no resemblance to the grandma I remember. She is becoming increasingly self-consumed, demanding, and accusatory. It is so hard to believe when you know the incredibly sweet and selfless woman she has always been. I am praying that the doctor will have medications to deal with these new delusional symptoms. We need a big improvement, quickly, for her to be able to stay here with us.
As for me, my aunt is coming for a visit today, and I am planning a nap for the three hours that Louisa is at kindergarten.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Friends and Family
In the past week, Michele and I have been swarmed with calls, emails, and offers of help. Thanks so much to all of you. Michele got some flowers from Sarah and an offer of Dee-Dee-sitting from Juli. Lynda has offerred to come up from Texas to help out, and tonight Maggi is bringing us some dinner. Wow! I know I’m forgetting some folks – we appreciate and thank all of you.
Add to that all the normal, everyday help from Denise and Diane, and we feel pretty lucky. Even when things have been tough like they've been the last couple weeks.
Especially touching to me personally has been the offers of help from friends of our in Jefferson City. A lot of those friends have been following the blog, and some were notified by a prayer chain request Michele sent to our old church. Michele's had some great talks with Julie and Stephanie and probably some others.
Last night, I had a great talk with another old JC friend, Jana. Her cousin, Roxana, is some kind of geriatric specialist (Jana – what is her title again?) and had some great advice for us.
One of the pieces of advice I thought was especially intriguing. Roxana said that in cases where there is a sudden and rapid increase in dementia, it’s usually (75% of the time) related to a bladder infection. Especially among women. She said this was especially important for us to know because most primary care doctors don’t know to look for that.
It reminded me that perhaps we’d be better served by seeing a geriatric specialist instead of Dee Dee’s long-time doctor. I don’t know. If anyone has any experience with doctors specializing in geriatric medicine, please let us know!
Add to that all the normal, everyday help from Denise and Diane, and we feel pretty lucky. Even when things have been tough like they've been the last couple weeks.
Especially touching to me personally has been the offers of help from friends of our in Jefferson City. A lot of those friends have been following the blog, and some were notified by a prayer chain request Michele sent to our old church. Michele's had some great talks with Julie and Stephanie and probably some others.
Last night, I had a great talk with another old JC friend, Jana. Her cousin, Roxana, is some kind of geriatric specialist (Jana – what is her title again?) and had some great advice for us.
One of the pieces of advice I thought was especially intriguing. Roxana said that in cases where there is a sudden and rapid increase in dementia, it’s usually (75% of the time) related to a bladder infection. Especially among women. She said this was especially important for us to know because most primary care doctors don’t know to look for that.
It reminded me that perhaps we’d be better served by seeing a geriatric specialist instead of Dee Dee’s long-time doctor. I don’t know. If anyone has any experience with doctors specializing in geriatric medicine, please let us know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)