Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Parents

Wow, where do I begin? Two weeks ago tomorrow, I took mom to get cataract surgery. While they were prepping her, she had a heart attack. I sat and watched as the nurses were all working with her. It was a mild one with minimal damage, but still very scarey. I stayed with her most of the daytime that she was in the hospital. Dad was in daycare, so that really helped.
Until Saturday when he got hostile toward the staff there. Mike was picking up Dad and staying with him until I got home. Then we stayed the night with him while Mom was in the hospital.
Dad has severe dementia. He was very confused when Mom didn't come home nights. She was finally released on Sunday. We took her home and stayed with them one more night to be sure they would be ok. The next day, Monday, Dad went to daycare again.
Then Tuesday morning he became violent again. At this point he has hurt 4 staff members by pushing, hitting or scratching them. My son, Ben, and I took Dad to the hospital in the ER.
They finally, after 13 hours, admitted him. He is still there.
Yesterday we had a conference with his medical team. Then we were allowed to see him outside regular visiting hours. I went to hold his hand but he became extremely protective of it. We mentioned it to the team as they were still there. They did seem concerned, but not exceptionally so. They took xrays and found his humerous bone, upper arm, was broken. An Orthopedic doctor is to check him today to see if surgery is required.
He was to go home tomorrow, but now that is changed.
This has been quite an experience and very stressful!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

So sorry - i know exactly what you are going through. Both of my parents have suffered with Alzheimer's disease.