Hello,
I'm relatively new here and my family cares for my grandfather with Dementia/Alzheimer's. He's 93 years old and we lost my grandmother in March of 2022.
My grandmother had only been showing signs of Dementia for a a few years, and she died of an aortic dissection after being in rehab for her second broken hip.
My grandfather since then has completely gone down hill and I live in another state, but was hoping to find some support for my mother whom is the primary care taker of my grandfather (her father in-law).
My father has been away on a work trip and will be returning to help take care of grandpa during his off week (he works 7on 7 off shifts), but my aunt, who lives three hours away has never been a real part of taking care of the family.
My aunt was a nurse for years, and she has the power of attorney over my parents who are my grandfather's primary caretaker.
In the past month my grandfather has fallen quite often (three days in a row), and he was taken to the ER with no injuries, but dehydration and lack of nutrition, so it is assumed that he was collapsing due to lack of nutrients in his body and low fluids.
After the first fall when my father took him back to his senior living apartment (which he shared with my grandmother), my grandfather was distraught and crying, saying that everyone was laughing at him and making fun of him for falling. My father assured him they were not. He fell again the following day and the facility says he has to go to the ER unless they are on hospice care. He fell again with my mother, and so she called the ambulance to take him to the ER once again, and after this my aunt placed him on hospice care so we only had to call hospice when he fell rather than take him to the ER.
Since he fell at the beginning of the month, and has been placed on hospice care at his Senior Living Facility, he's begun to go down hill in the sense that he is sleeping a lot more than normal (practically sleeps 22 hrs a day). My mom will sit with him after work and bring dinner (other wise he wont eat) and he'll be "sleeping" and then with his eyes closed hallucinate that you threw something on the floor for him to pick up, so he'll bend over in the chair and grasp at the floor, but his eyes are fully closed and he has a conversation with you as you tell him nothing is there and that you didn't throw anything to him to pick up. He hallucinates that there are visual objects, like putting away a knife sitting on a clearly empty table.
He is hallucinating in bed, and often forgets to move his pants/underwear when he uses the bathroom.
We have hospice care set up to come in every day, but they have only come in once this week. The facility has aids that will come in as well set up to just help him out of bed and he snapped at the aid this morning, which they promptly called my mom to come in because the aid would not go in and help my grandfather out of bed, so my mom has spent her whole day there and is awaiting my aunt's arrival for a bit of help so my mom can go home and get ready for work in the morning and spend time with my father when he gets home from his work trip.
I am beyond appalled by hospice not coming in and doing their jobs. My mother is there from the moment she leaves work during the week and spends most of her day there, so she would know if hospice or the aids in this facility came in. Is there anything we can do to find my grandfather better care?
I am also curious if this change in his behavior so suddenly is from a UTI, as my grandmother had many UTI's in the last months of her life and she would hallucinate much like this? Or is this the dementia/alzheimer's? I am curious if we are nearing the end, as this is truly the first relative I've experienced with dementia/alzheimer's
I'm relatively new here and my family cares for my grandfather with Dementia/Alzheimer's. He's 93 years old and we lost my grandmother in March of 2022.
My grandmother had only been showing signs of Dementia for a a few years, and she died of an aortic dissection after being in rehab for her second broken hip.
My grandfather since then has completely gone down hill and I live in another state, but was hoping to find some support for my mother whom is the primary care taker of my grandfather (her father in-law).
My father has been away on a work trip and will be returning to help take care of grandpa during his off week (he works 7on 7 off shifts), but my aunt, who lives three hours away has never been a real part of taking care of the family.
My aunt was a nurse for years, and she has the power of attorney over my parents who are my grandfather's primary caretaker.
In the past month my grandfather has fallen quite often (three days in a row), and he was taken to the ER with no injuries, but dehydration and lack of nutrition, so it is assumed that he was collapsing due to lack of nutrients in his body and low fluids.
After the first fall when my father took him back to his senior living apartment (which he shared with my grandmother), my grandfather was distraught and crying, saying that everyone was laughing at him and making fun of him for falling. My father assured him they were not. He fell again the following day and the facility says he has to go to the ER unless they are on hospice care. He fell again with my mother, and so she called the ambulance to take him to the ER once again, and after this my aunt placed him on hospice care so we only had to call hospice when he fell rather than take him to the ER.
Since he fell at the beginning of the month, and has been placed on hospice care at his Senior Living Facility, he's begun to go down hill in the sense that he is sleeping a lot more than normal (practically sleeps 22 hrs a day). My mom will sit with him after work and bring dinner (other wise he wont eat) and he'll be "sleeping" and then with his eyes closed hallucinate that you threw something on the floor for him to pick up, so he'll bend over in the chair and grasp at the floor, but his eyes are fully closed and he has a conversation with you as you tell him nothing is there and that you didn't throw anything to him to pick up. He hallucinates that there are visual objects, like putting away a knife sitting on a clearly empty table.
He is hallucinating in bed, and often forgets to move his pants/underwear when he uses the bathroom.
We have hospice care set up to come in every day, but they have only come in once this week. The facility has aids that will come in as well set up to just help him out of bed and he snapped at the aid this morning, which they promptly called my mom to come in because the aid would not go in and help my grandfather out of bed, so my mom has spent her whole day there and is awaiting my aunt's arrival for a bit of help so my mom can go home and get ready for work in the morning and spend time with my father when he gets home from his work trip.
I am beyond appalled by hospice not coming in and doing their jobs. My mother is there from the moment she leaves work during the week and spends most of her day there, so she would know if hospice or the aids in this facility came in. Is there anything we can do to find my grandfather better care?
I am also curious if this change in his behavior so suddenly is from a UTI, as my grandmother had many UTI's in the last months of her life and she would hallucinate much like this? Or is this the dementia/alzheimer's? I am curious if we are nearing the end, as this is truly the first relative I've experienced with dementia/alzheimer's
