Hop On the Dementia Rollercoaster!

I found out on Friday that the rehabilitation center has projected my Grandmother’s release date to be this Thursday, March 26- a little surprising to say the least! And because I could not make the drive down to visit her at all last week, I had at least one visitor per day planned out up through yesterday. Since my mom and brother were coming up to visit us in Marietta this past weekend, I had to schedule my dad twice- on Saturday and Sunday just to make sure someone went to see her over the weekend. Of course her caregiver goes to see her just about everyday- but, my Grandmother does not seem to really remember her after this whole broken hip ordeal. Everyone who went and visited her over the course of last week had pretty positive feedback about his or her visit… well almost everyone- except my dad. His reports are always just the opposite. I am really beginning to think it is just him. You see even after dealing with my Grandmother’s sickness for over two years my dad is still in denial- in denial of her dementia, in denial of her disabilities, in denial of her aging, the list goes on and on. So he doesn’t understand why she does the things she does and why she does not do the things she used to could do. His behavior is so typical of family members (usually men) who just cannot or will not accept changes in their loved ones. Changes that cannot be prevented or helped… yet, they just do not get it! Come on people, the information is out there to read up on it…why not just take the time to research it so you can understand her and her condition! For example, I called him on Sunday to see how his visit went on Saturday… he tells me that she was “pitching a fit and struggling to get out of the wheelchair the entire time I was there”. He says that she stays angry and combative… I called him on Sunday night to see how his visit was earlier that day- same story just a different day. So later that night I decided to make the trip myself on Monday afternoon.
I came into work early so I could leave a little early yesterday afternoon… luck was on my side because I managed to avoid any/all traffic the entire way down there… got there by 5:30. My mom called on the way and said she wanted to meet me there to visit her too. So we entered the building together and found her in the wheelchair sitting out in the common area in front of the nurse’s station. She was yelling out at some nurse walking by her at that moment, “hey! Hello! Hey! Hello!” while pulling on the Velcro wheelchair strap that keeps her from coming out of the chair… we stopped for a minute and just watched her… it kind of reminded me of one of those homeless people you see sitting on the side of the street hollering for a hand out all the while everyone walking by are just ignoring them. I slowly walked up and silently stood right in front of her path of vision…. She looks up at my face and slowly grins like she recognizes me… but, then the smile fades, her demeanor changes and she says, “where have you been?!”… Now that is exactly what I had expected from my always-agitated Grandmother…and nothing less. And then she says, “and where is your mom?” and mom pops up next to me and says, “right here!”…And now she is really surprised… she just looks back and forth at both of us… and then she busts out crying…I slowly interpret her sobs in that she is “so glad that we are all together again”… and then a minute later she has stopped crying and is babbling about something and we are both baffled at what she is saying… it seems that her ability to talk and understand her words is waning and she speaks in such a low tone that you can hardly hear her words. Well, we spent the next hour on this rollercoaster of happy, crying, surprise, happy, crying, over and over and over. And then around 6:15 her energy level just deflated and she was asleep in the chair by 6:30. We watched the nurse tech put her bed and then told her bye…. As I made the long drive back to the city, I watched the beautiful sunset on my left through the trees and thought for a long time about how different life is going to be for my Grandmother and her caregiver when she returns to Pine Mountain later this week. A broken hip and an increased level of dementia is going to make life very much more complicated… we shall see what happens…

From One Hospital to the Next

I made the trip down on Sunday and stayed with Grandmother all day in her hospital room- nothing really happens around there on Sundays so not too much to report.

After many phone calls back and forth on Monday, I received the good news that the Roosevelt Rehab Institute in Warm Springs had accepted her into their program. However, she would not be transferred there until Tuesday (we were hoping for Monday). Her blood pressure had been up all day and the doctors had adjusted/changed her meds to remedy the problem.

I decided to make another trip down there early on Tuesday morning for the transfer, the paperwork, etc. I arrived at the hospital that morning around 7am and they finally released her for transfer to Roosevelt right around 12 noon. She napped pretty much all morning as if she did not sleep much the night before... she barely woke even when they moved her onto the stretcher and into the ambulance...
I made the drive to Warm Springs and completed all the paperwork in Admissions. When I was finally escorted to her room and found her in a DEEP sleep. And that is pretty much how she was ALL afternoon... it was kind of scary especially since she had no pain medicine in a day or so... and she had to be practically shaken physically while loudly calling her name just to get her to open her eyes and acknowledge me. It really had me wondering if she possibly had another brain seizure during transport.
After several interviews with different Roosevelt folks on her "rehabilitation team" and a 1000 questions answered later, I left her around 5pm. And I felt like a mother leaving her child to strangers...
I did make a call to her Main Nurse and checked in on her this afternoon- she did finally wake sometime last night and they have been "assessing her condition" all day today- I should get a full report tomorrow... Until then-

Deja Vu All Over Again!

Walking through the front doors of the hospital in LaGrange felt like déjà vu all over again… as I walked into the automatic doors I thought to myself, “how am I here again?” It all started the evening before… I had been in a Leadership Conference all week for work and on Wednesday evening I felt like I should call my Grandmother to chat. The Caregiver answered and said that my Grandmother had fallen and the hospice nurse was already there and recommending X-rays. After a trip to the ER in an ambulance and about 3 hours later, it was confirmed that she had broken her right hip. Since the ball/socket bone was broken completely in half and was slowing the blood flow to her leg, the doctors ordered surgery the next day. I rushed down there the next day and made it to visit with her before the surgery. Of course, with her level of dementia these days, she really had no idea where she was or why she was there. I kept telling her that she broke her hip and that she had to go into the “repair shop” to get it repaired. Of course, five minutes later and she had already forgotten it!
Surgery went well considering all of the issues... she was back in her hospital room by 6 or 7pm Thursday night. Since they were able to do a spinal tap instead of full anesthesia, her confusion was not as elevated as they predicted. I was with her most of Friday and she is/was in some pain. Her mind is all over the place too. She has had quite a few visitors during my time with her and I try to keep her busy (between visitors) by singing to/with her, reading to her and keeping a constant flow of "conversation" with her. It is very heart breaking to see her in this state of mind- almost childlike on so many levels. But, if we keep her mind and hands busy during the daylight hours, then she will sleep at night.
If everything goes well with her PT in the hospital, they will release on Monday to a rehabilitation center. The Roosevelt Rehab Institute in Warm Springs is scheduled to assess her on Monday morning- they are my first choice for her rehabilitation. I just pray that they accept her into their program since it is the closest to home for her and if everything goes well, she will only be there for 1-2 weeks. And then she would be released to go home and at-home-PT would take place 2-3 times per week. The ultimate goal at his point it to a) get her back to Pine Mountain and b) getting her as mobile as possible... Right now, I am not really sure if walking on her own will ever be an option. It all depends on her.
I am back on hospital sitter duty all day tomorrow. Hopefully, she will be in a better state of mind. Until then….