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.
I cancelled respite. I wouldn't feel right, I'd worry too much and imagine her scared, bewildered and upset, so... there will be time to rest one day.
I wonder if I will ever get my sense of humor back?
I did get a chuckle from Veronica's comment... hehe!
I know I didn't come on this website to see photos like that. If I want to see such a thing, I would volunteer in the ER.
Jeanette!!! Yay!!! Isn't it amazing at how quickly that begins helping in most instances..praise God! Yes, it is ridiculous what you go through and almost always because a doctor was out of town and no one knew a test was done or someone was waiting on results...blah, blah, blah...that's why I had to just start sitting on them til they moved. That is a good idea, the little childrens floatie things...only thing with those might be the plastic type material might cause an issue with the skin...on that note, which I know you do already, but when I used the vinyl tablecloth folded up as a draw sheet, I covered it with soft cotton towels so there was no vinyl to skin contact, which creates blisters...and eventually could and probably would lead to pressure sores....I've also used rolled up towles, little throw pillows, etc...but the little foot things work so well I think because of the very shape of them the elbow just fits gently in there...I'm sooo glad your precious Mom is feeling so much bettter!!!
I'm like you Jeanette, when Mama is frail I just can't send her to respite...I'm also such a control freak I suppose that i am afraid they will get sidetracked and forget to give her her Cipro on schedule . I 'm hoping Mama continues to improve and if so, I may be able to do a respite thing as spring nears...and the bugs and viruses that have been running rampant have subsided....Mama is so happy now...she has been laughing and even talking..granted most of it does not make a lot of sense, but still she is so happy and she tells me she loves me and hearing that again after so long has made my heart soar...even better than respite for me to hear that....
Last night, one funny, I was singing a bunch of those silly Hee Haw songs and she was laughing..I was making verses up as I went along based on our adventures and she was just laughing...at one point, I had accidentally "tooted" (sorry for tmi there) but shortly after, I thought I heard something and she started laughing and I said ..what are you laughing about???? she said..."I let one and we're all guilty"...than she started laughing ..she was so cute..I know we're silly, but it is so much fun....just as I was putting her to bed last night, she told me she loved me too.... and I think back to hospice telling me they thought all of her symptoms were just part of the end of life process. In my heart it was so confusing because she had been doing well just after getting the abcess tooth out..and then just took a nose dive...thank God they gave me the cipro..I kept telling them I felt absolutely certain she had a UTI.....and she did...thank God......
I made my brothers go with mom and I when we picked up dad. I don't think I could have drove home... so surreal.
Thanks for all the suggestions girls! Mom finally got and started her cipro. Her doc has been our for a week, they didn't know anything about the Urine sample, the hospice was supposed to call but I guess didn't... blah blah blah. Just a series of misfortune all at once. Bad timing? She was up all day yesterday and ate 3 nice size meals plus her nutrition shakes. Slept all night, got up early, peed in the toilet twice (also sometime during the night) had her shake and banana then out like a light for several hours in her recliner... woke up so awake and lucid it scared me? She could almost walk again? Said she had to pee and was hungry. Well YES MA'M!
Hope, I wander if those children floatie things will work on elbows? I will ask hospice about them. Also want a definite answer to WHO prescribes antibiotics as I will NEVER go through this again, neither will mom. Oh, I found a plastic shower liner that now is part of moms bed, all several pieces of it. Takes a bit of getting used and oh HELL YES, I do appreciate those who've traveled this road ahead of me and willingly give advice. That has been a lifesaver for me.
Susan, I have Butt salve on my list for tomorrows venture. I looked again today and the crease lines are gone. Also going to order the medibutter and some of those lovely gowns Hope gets for her mama.
I still have plans on sending her to respite on Wednesday but changed my plans. I'm not really comfortable going away and just leaving her for days without checking in on her physically. It will be heaven to sleep in or stay in bed if that's what I choose to do. Besides, I still have taxes to do and this way, I won't have other more important things taking up my time/thoughts.
Just so y'all know.... I truly appreciate each and every one of you!!
Also...if there are any small breaks in the skin, get some MediHoney. You can't get it at any pharmacy, has to be ordered online. I've found it on both Amazon and Ebay. It's NOT cheap...but it's awesome. Dad had ulcerated and dead tissue on both legs (shins) for decades. Nothing helped. Wound specialist kept putting him in Uno Boots, which only made it worse. They would debride the wound (incredibly painful), then re-bandage again. Raw, open wound under constant pressure from a bandage - how did they think this was going to be a good thing?? By chance, a new wound specialist saw him when he was in the hospital and started using MediHoney. Within 2 weeks, my dad had new, pink, healthy skin in areas that had been either ulcerated and raw, or black and dead - for years. It was the first time in decades his legs were looking healthy. I'm currently using MediHoney on my very badly cracked heels (a wintertime problem for me). I have tried all manner of remedies specifically for cracked heels - they work for a while, but if I stop using them, the heels crack all over again. This time, I had a small vertical crack coupled with a horrible horizontal one that went all the way across the back of my heel. Very, very painful - I could barely walk. Started putting the Medi-Honey on a large band-aid and putting it on my heel every morning and every night, and within 3 days, the cracks had healed. I'm still using the Medi-Honey on it every day, because there's a lot of tissue damage to be healed before it's completely better, but 3 days is a major accomplishment when it comes to healing cracks in your heels when you're walking on them all the time!
I'm not saying I know all there is to know by any means but going through this with Mama really makes me feel proactive in wanting to do something down the road with these issues....How many times people have written my Mama off...and yet, here she is ...happy and able to enjoy her life again....I've got a little fire lit under me now... :) and I like it....
. It is until proved otherwise. Jeanette hospice may not treat UTIs but they have a responsibility to see she gets the treatment she needs. The RN can pick up the phone and request a script from the Dr and they ashould either call it in or fax it to the pharmacy. often with a small hospice the pharmacists will know the nurses and they can just call with the Dr permission and the pharmacist will give it to them there and then. Hope you had to learn the hard way but Jeanette you are forwarned so go ahead and jump up and down. (It's good exercise anyway) It is possible Jeanette that Mom is having having swallowing difficulties. Unfortunately this can just be part of the disease progression. keep her meals soft and eacy to chew and avoid spices tiny pieces. Rice can be a problem unless overcooked and mushy. Make sure she drinks with her food. Very tender chicken in gravy with mashed potatoe and cauliflower would be a good choice or fish or pasta. Add a little sugar to pasta sauce as it is sometimes too acid and that irritates the back of the throat. Hospice may have a dietition. Hospice nurses may be excellent but may know very little about dementia. They deal with a lot of anxiety and odd behaviour at the end of life and use the necessary drugs but dementia patients are rarely admitted on that diagnosis, they have to show physical decline to meet the criteria. So you may well know more about it than they do. This is not a criticisem of the nurses just that few nurses want to work in mental health or geriatric care so simply lack the knowlege
I have learn far more about dementia here than i did while actively working in hospice. Even the certification exam for hospice nurses had few questions directly associated with the subject. They might ask about the best drugs to be given foe end of life anxiety but that was as far as it went. the primary Drs were also not knowlegeable and would prescribe whatever the nurses asked for. it is a sad situation but another example of needing to educate ourselves and keep asking for what we want and check on any new drugs before starting them. it only takes a few minutes to google something and find out the side effects and whether it is safe to use with drugs the patient is already taking.
I finally got a call from the home medical professionals and I am resting a little bit better that that will be underway. I still feel like everything is so precarious though, a scary rollercoaster ride with no safety bar!
I agree with Cat...I would push them for a script....I know you are sick of me saying that, but our hospice ALWAYS handles the UTI issue....Mama does not even have a doctor outside of the hospice one anymore, but just like the other day before the snow...the nurse was able to get the script pushed through at my request..they did not even do a culture...because I know her behavior when she has one...and I promise I don't take giving antibiotics lightly..they can be detrimental to give them so much that they destroy all the good bacteria in the colon, etc. but I have also learned that mixing a probiotic in one of her ensure shakes each day counteracts the huge amount of loose poo during a course of antibiotics...also helps with that issue period....I buy the pharmacy brand and make sure I pick one that has the same formulation as the name brand ones...open the capsule and mix it in with their shake, some juice, whatever...the doctor confirmed it was fine to do this..it has helped immensely with the loose poo issue....
We looked at moms bottom closely this afternoon.... looks more like crease marks than what my worst nightmare imagined. Whew.
Veronica, hospice does not treat UTI's. ... not here anyways. This is our first dealing with hospice and a UTI. Mom's 3rd in the past 2 plus years. She's had a strange cough today... like her saliva wasn't swallowing so well. Not gurgling.... just a cough like it went down the wrong pipe.
sigh
Mom is in bed snoring... which is my clue
Cm, this is properly scaring me.
Lovely Nephews 1 and 2 called their Granny today. Which was great except that for overhearing her say "I've been in bed for a few days, I expect you heard, but I'm better now." I wonder if nephews realise quite how nuts she is? LN1 said to me "but I wanted to know how you are…" but since I'd just spent five minutes describing the bedlam round here I thought that pretty much covered it. HHA definitely has flu; she called and I told her not to come in. Second HHA agency then called to ask could they come an hour and a half early? - that would be, no. I'd just got her back to bed and did not want her woken straight up again. I have been tearing around like a blue-arsed fly mopping up poo and changing sheets for a straight eighteen hours now and she hasn't even got diarrhoea. And if she was properly incontinent she wouldn't be able to hold on to urine in the faint hope that there will be, somehow, if she waits long enough, a fourth option better than commode, bed pan or weeing in her pad, and then she wouldn't pee an entire bucket load, overwhelm the pad and soak her fresh clean pyjamas and her carefully made bed. Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggggghhhhhh…!
I need to be careful of what I wish for, right?