Mom was taken to the hospital a few days ago after she fell and hit her head. She is much better and more 'with it' now, but it was scary for a bit. Here is my sister's update from earlier this week:
Good morning. Some of this some of you know but I will bring everyone up to date.
Mom was released from the hospital yesterday. On the way home she wanted one of her favorite donuts so I told her I would stop if she would stay in the car because she is so unstable on her feet. When I came out she had gotten out of the car and walked around and was sitting in the driver's seat going thru my stuff on the door.
We took a drive along the river and then I took her back to the facility. She would not get out of the car. She wanted to go "home'. I said where, and she said Floral Park. I finally bribed her to get out of the car. We got her settled in, the nurse came and checked her, I got her to eat a little. She was saying her father had driven her from the hospital. Because she was so disoriented, the nurse suggested they would take her up to the memory care ward for the evening until bedtime.
I left and an hour later the nurse called. She bucked up against the aids whom she knows because they were "grabbing her arm and telling her she had to go home with them.' The nurse suggested private pay nursing care until we could evaluate the situation. So I agreed to three days of round the clock nursing care costing over $1000.00 because she is such a risk to herself right now. I went back over and sat with her. She was clawing at the walls and said someone had come in and destroyed all her stuff. She went thru the photo book of the McNallys and said, "look what they did - they colored in all the faces." There were kids sitting in the corner of the room. It was scary.
She had not slept in the hospital and continued not to sleep last night with the aid. She got up four or five times to go to the bathroom. She has been very noncompiant. Nalini came in and got her to brush her teeth and change her depends. I love Nalini. The second nurse came on at eight and she has been sleeping in her chair all morning.
I talked to the Administrator and the Chief Nurse. They explained that brain bleeds always destroy brain cells so they know there will be problems if a patient comes back from the hospital. There is a memory ward on the second floor and it may be time for her to move up there. They believe her fall was precipitated by her blood pressure which was 205/105 just after the fall and continued for hours at the hospital. It is now 160/105 which is still concerning. She is a very high fall risk.
So they are going to brainstorm and see what options we have - thankfully they all include Mom staying at the facility in her current condition.
She won't be happy on the second floor. They lock the residents out of their rooms during the day. They are in an activity room or an adjacent tv room and constantly monitored. It wasn't as gruesome as I anticipated but she won't like it.
Say your prayers that she becomes more compliant and coherent.
Further update:
I called her last night and other than accidentally hanging up the phone a few times, she sounded great. Sue says she has 'nine lives.' I believe it.
Julie freaks out whenever she sees Penny. I was cleaning cages here. Not sure what Julie would do with Penny but I won't take chances she might get too friendly.
