My mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2010. This is a blog about coming to terms with her absent mind.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

The News So Far...

She has been seen by the consultant this morning and he has prescribed her antibiotics for a UTI and treatment for constipation. They say she isn't dehydrated (which I find almost impossible to believe) and that there's nothing else for them to do and are ready to send her home.

I've spoken to SS who need to arrange another care package and assessment for  her - which will hopefully include blocks to raise the bed and a hoist for the bath. Seeing as getting a hospital type bed is in rocking horse poo territory and she cannot actually get into either the bath or the shower at the moment. It is also likely to involve two carers at a time which 'may take time to organise'. All this means that they can't just send her home. Thank goodness.

According to the doctor I spoke to this morning, she's eaten some breakfast and had a drink of tea.

I'm beginning to wonder if they are talking about the wrong woman.

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The visit to hospital this afternoon was beyond infuriating.

Thankfully Dave and Glen came over to offer some support and also their experience on how to deal with and challenge nursing staff. I am still learning how to do this. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not disrespecting the nursing profession, just not confident on how to get the information you really want to hear.

It transpires that actually Ma was dehydrated enough to need two intravenous bags of fluid overnight and she's 'eaten' when someone passed and remembered to feed her.

She was still in what I would call considerable distress - clutching and pulling at the bedclothes, writhing in the bed etc. Plus her right hand has developed a marked tremor. Her 'dedicated' Nurse told us that she'd been 'fine all morning' which I do find slightly strange. Surely she didn't go from here in extreme distress, arrive at hospital and become serene and compliant only to be shouting and writhing again when we arrived this afternoon?

When we left she was becoming quieter and I hope she slept.

I have to say though that she looks so so so much better - better than she has for weeks and weeks. Clearly the intraveous fluids have made a huge difference. Massive hopes for the antibiotics now.

More tomorrow.


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