My MIL is deteriorating. She had a fall a few weeks back and this seems to be accelerating her condition.
Initially she couldn't have a shower because she was in pain. We had great difficulty in obtaining OT assistance but eventually managed through a cancellation to have her assessed for a shower seat. Yesterday she was keen enough to have a shower and the carer obliged. She shouted and screamed that she was cold (the heating was on, the water was warm enough, the seat had had the warm water put on it before she sat down). She started to shiver and shake and this only stopped after the shower. Has she become frightened of the water hitting her skin? Is it becaùse she has got out of the habit? As she has a number of "accidents" of both varieties in the coùrse of the day, we are worried that this could be the start of refusing showers.
On a different topic, we are so worried about her having to go into a home. The farm in which my husband is a business partner is still in my MIL's name... Everything he has worked for could go up in smoke. He is not sleeping... His elder brother has absolved himself of any responsibility (he lives in England while we are in NI). Continuing Health Care is not common here - 17 cases between 2006 and 2013. She has had heart failure, has arrythmia, glaucoma, COPD, frozen shoulder (precipitated by fall), evidence of a TIA apart from Alzheimer's. Frankly, I don't know how much more of this my husband can take... he resolutely refuses to see a doctor and be "put on pills"...
Initially she couldn't have a shower because she was in pain. We had great difficulty in obtaining OT assistance but eventually managed through a cancellation to have her assessed for a shower seat. Yesterday she was keen enough to have a shower and the carer obliged. She shouted and screamed that she was cold (the heating was on, the water was warm enough, the seat had had the warm water put on it before she sat down). She started to shiver and shake and this only stopped after the shower. Has she become frightened of the water hitting her skin? Is it becaùse she has got out of the habit? As she has a number of "accidents" of both varieties in the coùrse of the day, we are worried that this could be the start of refusing showers.
On a different topic, we are so worried about her having to go into a home. The farm in which my husband is a business partner is still in my MIL's name... Everything he has worked for could go up in smoke. He is not sleeping... His elder brother has absolved himself of any responsibility (he lives in England while we are in NI). Continuing Health Care is not common here - 17 cases between 2006 and 2013. She has had heart failure, has arrythmia, glaucoma, COPD, frozen shoulder (precipitated by fall), evidence of a TIA apart from Alzheimer's. Frankly, I don't know how much more of this my husband can take... he resolutely refuses to see a doctor and be "put on pills"...