I'm tired of cooking/preparing 3 meals a day. It's just the two of us but boy oh boy can that woman eat!! She stays slimish, I get fattish. It's bad enough I do everything here much less start making her one thing and me the other. At times I feel guilty when I buy her fast food cuz of the nutritional value....not to mention I eat it too.
We did have one patient that got maggots in his leg - again no smell.
I believe these days they actually do introduce maggots to clean out wounds
DH developed a badly infected toe that looked to me to be headed towards gangrene. At the same time my diarrhea kicked in so DD brought us to the ER.
Hubby is geting IV antibiotics and the toe is improving but his back is very painful. They have been starving me to "rest the gut" unfortunately my gut does not agree.
I fought hard against being admitted for observation but the rules have changed.
They think I may have pancreatitis and possibly a bowel obstruction. CT scan ruled that out and they tried to sonogram but the technician could not find it. "Are you sure you did not have it removed?" Noooo! "Well I guess someone could have snuck it out while they were in there.
I asked if they found the pancreatitis to be caused by gall stones would they operate. "Oh no you are far too big a surgical risk" Don't know what has changed in the last 12 months since I had my broken hip replaced.
So sorry for you and hubby. Hope you both get better quick.
Cwillie, I had to have the AC replaced last year. They are using a different coolant and the old one has gone up in cost. These Heating/Cooling guys always seem to have their mitts in my wallet!
Seems to me I remember reading about maggots being used to clean wounds as far back as WWI? They're supposed to be very clean - it's the flies that are dirty, because, you know, basically they walk on poo. *yuck face*
I don't think anyone is a bad daughter (or son) for not being willing to deal with their parents' poo. *I* am not willing to deal with my mother's poo. I didn't expect this when I signed up for caregiving, and I'm no saint when it comes to dealing with it either! I cuss and grumble the whole time! And then I sulk for hours. Lol.
CM - I got out mom's blister pack of meds last night, actually, and I looked them all up online....turns out one is a stool softener!!! She takes two of them. So I (temporarily) stopped giving it as of last night, and I'll ask her renal team if she can go off it now, or reduce it (her meds go to dialysis with her Wednesday, for review). Basically her entire diet is now down to milkshakes I make with Ensure, Ritz crackers, Timbits, and the occasional piece of toast (she refuses "real" food). So why on earth would she still need a stool softener?
Both you and hubs are going to make it because your new lovely home is just so peaceful and is calling you back.
You know what to do.
You know what is best for you both.
I will do my part and pray, you do your part and rest.
Thinking of you
Isn't there a blood test that can tell if your pancreas is "hot" so to speak ?
When the Viking had gallbladder trouble it caused pancreatitis- ER folks insisted she must be a heavy drinker
Nope - allergic to alcohol
- They didn't believe me
She was among the first nearly 30 years ago to have her gallbladder removed with just a small naval incision which is now an outpatient procedure
I hope you gave the ultrasound tech a good pinch for asking if you had your pancreas being it's a vital organ and all
Speedy recovery to you and hubs
I need to give it a quick
Cleaning and crank it up
We're in the 90 temp now
The rehab team discharged my mother home into my care with technicolor diarrhoea. They had continued lactulose for up to six weeks without any apparent reference to what it had been prescribed for or whether it was still needed. Thanks for that, chaps. Got us off to a great start.
Can they not read? Or do they not think? A question for the ages...
While I'm having a good fume-seethe: article in today's paper headlined "'Alzheimer's village' frees patients to lead a normal life."
Sounds wonderful, I thought. Tell me more.
Work has begun on France's first 'Alzheimer's Village' modelled on a successful Dutch initiative which has been running for some time. It is, essentially, a secure campus of ordinary homes and amenities such as a grocery, salon, library, café and even a model farm. Sounds lovely, can I go?
I was actually restraining my scepticism until I got to the part about how they will evaluate this trial. Get this. Just get this...
"Its proponents say that compared with traditional nursing homes, residents are more active, require less medication, and are happier.
"The French model will seek scientific proof that this is the case. Young researchers will 'cohabit' with the 120 residents who have Alzheimer's, along with..."
GET THIS!
"... 100 live-in carers and 120 volunteers who will stage activities.
"The researchers will conduct a comparative study with traditional nursing homes and examine 'the impact of new therapeutic approaches on patients, carers, and medical staff,' Prof Dartigues told Le Monde."
120 residents. 100 live-in caregivers + 120 volunteers.
I wonder if the comparison will include resident:staff ratios?
And I wonder how ill the residents will be?
So there we are. There's the answer. Just build entire new communities, employ up to 2.2 carers per resident, replicate the experiment 10,000 times and France's estimated 1,000,000 Alzheimer's sufferers' sunset years will be paradise.
I do in fact very much approve of the village model, which has worked well not only in Holland but also in the UK - it works, it's brilliant, and these places are staffed by people of genius and true vocation.
What I can't STAND is when some idiot cub reporter - whoever he is - gets hold of the story and goes starry-eyed over it. It's not simple, it's not fine, and we're no more going to provide such facilities for every person than we are going to eradicate child poverty or malaria.
... as the population keeps living longer and sicker, the number of old sick people is growing ever larger and taking up more and more resources, while the percentage of younger working adults is getting smaller and having to working harder and more years, and people having not only fewer kids but later in life...
I see a much larger looming problem for the society of most developed countries.
I don't know if there can be a solution, but for me, I try to save money so that I can pay for my own care as much as possible. And how can I work and make money to save if I'm stuck at home caring for my elderly Alzheimer's mother for the next many years? Sigh.
I'm not even kidding. Robot caregivers might just be among us within a decade.
www.businessinsider.com/robot-caregivers-for-the-elderly-10-years-away-2017-8
theconversation.com/how-robots-could-help-bridge-the-elder-care-gap-82125
bigthink.com/disruptive-demographics/robo-caregiving-will-you-delegate-care-of-a-loved-one-to-a-robot
Everyone who isn't already watching Westworld, you should be!
Could you tap dance BEFORE the surgery? ;-)
I much prefer tap to ballet