Guest post

-
I received this last night from my sister-in-law Louise. My oldest brother Chuck is 82 and has vascular dementia. This is so difficult. I'm posting this here in order to keep a record etc


Respite….hmmm….not quite what I imagined it would be!!

Dropped him off Tues afternoon, got him settled and walked around to get him familiar with the place and he seemed to understand why he was there.

In the morning…not so much…up wandering all night…didn’t understand what all these people were doing in his house…and the next 2 days were much the same only he was becoming more agitated about all the people in his house and angry at me for letting them in.  They called me in a few times to calm him down and help get some meds into him to calm him down…not what I imagined my rest would look like.

Thursday night they called me at 10pm to ask for help to get some meds into him that they put in his coffee but he was refusing to drink it.  When I got there he didn’t trust me either so I had to wake Ian up and ask for his help…which it did…but we never got out of there til midnight!!

I called my dr the next morning and asked to talk with him because respite just isn’t working…he called me back in the afternoon while I was there with Chuck and asked to talk with the nurse as I shouldn’t be called and they need to get some meds to help him sleep at night.  While they were talking I went back to Chuck who was trying to get out of bed and clearly could barely stand.  Got the nurse and said you’re going to need a wheelchair to get him to dinner as he can’t walk…brought the wheelchair and it was like his feet were in cement…he couldn’t move them.  So they decided to bring him supper in bed and he agreed and I left at this point.  Was barely home 30 min and I got a call to say he had fallen on his hip and was in pain and couldn’t move his leg do I give permission to call the ambulance…duh…yes!!

This morning I got a call from the hospital saying that he was about to go into surgery because he has a broken hip but needed my consent first…so he’s had that…it went well and now he’s on a ward still sleeping!!  Now he can finally catch up on 3 sleepless nights.

The nurse was in tears when I came to pick up his clothes and very apologetic…they are very short staffed, need better training for care aids to learn how to communicate with dementia patients and hoping for more funding but I guess that’s not a priority for our government (the last part were my words not hers!!)  But she said it could be a blessing in disguise as he may get bumped up for a permanent bed.  She really was a good, caring nurse…but can only do so much on her own.

Now it’s a wait and see how things go from here…his base line will have dropped again so I don’t know what to expect when he wakes up.  But will keep you all posted!! 

Thanks for your prayers!!
Louise


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Challenges!

-
Image
Challenges! My youngest daughter loves challenges. Every once in awhile she publishes a challenge on her blog http://sewdutchsisters.blogspot.com/  that usually involves digging into ones endless stash in the craft room. She encourages others to join but I think what it does is really gets her motivated. She currently has 10 challenges ( 1 per week) listed on her blog.  Well, it helped me get into the spirit of things as well. I had a pattern for a robe in my stash. I have always wanted a robe that was not too bulky like the old terry-towel ones of years gone by but not too thin that  it would only be good for summer weather. Every year before and after Christmas I go robe shopping and have never been able to find one that I liked enough to spend money on not to mention the fact that lately the only ones available are made from velour or other synthetic fibers...which ALWAYS give static electric shocks.  So I went to the fabric store....
Read more

Blogging from the phone...who knew?

-
Image
I just learned that it is possible to post to my blog from my phone. My son who needed help today to set up his blog told me. Perhaps this will make me a more faithful blogger, who knows.  For now I'll just practice.  Can I post a picture? New Year's Eve main dish: stuffed shells. They were delicious! We had a party as per usual. Every year I try to challenge our friends in some or another culinary way. Last year each couple was given a country, asked to do a bit if research and prepare an appetizer or dessert from that country.  We enjoyed some wonderful food that we would have never tried on our own.  This year we did a modified version of the TV  show Chopped! The instructions were simple: pick three ingredients from the list of nine and concoct an appetizer, side,salad or dessert on an Italian theme. We had some lovely appetizers and a side/salad. One couple brought a main dish that while  it included the three ingredients it was as far...
Read more

Wednesday Lunch again!

-
Image
We found a new restaurant to try called The Stray... a music and arts café. It used to be a century-old auto repair shop but you'd never know it!. It's a relaxing venue offering great coffee options, fresh food and local beers. The lunch time that we were there, there were many different ages represented  but none our age- definitely a younger crowd. There were beautiful plants all around and lots of local art displayed on all sides. The menu is varied but not overwhelming! We had some very good food!     Dreamy Italian- salami, honey-ham, bacon, cream cheese  banana peppers, dill pickle, tomato and lots of VERY fresh greens wrapped in a Spinach tortilla.  (I'm going to try this at home)  Farmer's wife- chicken, bacon avocado spread, goat cheese sprinkles, herbs and apple slices on wheat-berry bread. (R was not too sure about the bread). A grapefruit forward beer was just ok! Rooibos tea-- delicious! I'd like to go back on a weekend to disc...
Read more