A little warning!

[SAP]

As some of you may know, my mum is now on a specialist unit having been in hospital last year and sectioned. Prior to that she was in a EMI home.
When she first moved in she was so mal nourished she could have hidden behind a match stick. Over time she put on weight and so I had to buy her a complete new wardrobe several times including a new coat. The coat went from EMI home, to MHSOP ward to the home she is in now.
This week,the carers told me that the coat no longer fitted her , could she have a new one. Not a problem at all, I took the old coat home with me , will possibly give it to charity. With this in mind I inspected the coat, not been used much recently so it’s very clean but just to be sure I checked the pockets and pulled out a handful of drugs!!! I’ve no idea where these are from, what meds they are and even if they were meant for mum. I’m thinking they were from the first home as she is given her meds now, with a drink and watched to make sure they go down. Also she wouldn’t know what her coat was let alone where to find it.
So, if you are visiting someone this weekend, just have a quick check of those pockets and other hiding holes.

 

[Pollywobble]

This brought back a memory that made me smile. My Grandma saved my mum a fishcake from her dinner a few days previous!

 

[Gandalf's Helper]

My wife has dementia and one day I couldn't find any of the sharp kitchen knives, not a single one. So I had to go out and buy a new set of knives. I found the old knives threee months later in the garden shed in a laundry bag. Another favorite is keys, I have no idea what she has done with the front door key or back door key

 

[Jessbow]

My friends husband goes to a day centre one day a week.he comesback with the strangest of things in his pocket, everything from a randon packet of polo's to a banana

 

[SAP]

This brought back a memory that made me smile. My Grandma saved my mum a fishcake from her dinner a few days previous!

With my mum it was sausages, she has never liked them so she pockets them for the “cat”

 

[try again]

The carer caught my mum trying to cut her toe nails with the kitchen knife.
No wonder it was so blunt 😉

 

[Pollywobble]

With my mum it was sausages, she has never liked them so she pockets them for the “cat”

It's so nice to read something that brought a smile to my face!

 

[Palerider]

As some of you may know, my mum is now on a specialist unit having been in hospital last year and sectioned. Prior to that she was in a EMI home.
When she first moved in she was so mal nourished she could have hidden behind a match stick. Over time she put on weight and so I had to buy her a complete new wardrobe several times including a new coat. The coat went from EMI home, to MHSOP ward to the home she is in now.
This week,the carers told me that the coat no longer fitted her , could she have a new one. Not a problem at all, I took the old coat home with me , will possibly give it to charity. With this in mind I inspected the coat, not been used much recently so it’s very clean but just to be sure I checked the pockets and pulled out a handful of drugs!!! I’ve no idea where these are from, what meds they are and even if they were meant for mum. I’m thinking they were from the first home as she is given her meds now, with a drink and watched to make sure they go down. Also she wouldn’t know what her coat was let alone where to find it.
So, if you are visiting someone this weekend, just have a quick check of those pockets and other hiding holes.

I hate to add a more serious comment -but some questions need to be asked as to how they got there and who has been missing important medication? -which might explain some changes in behaviour or wellbeing. This shouldn't happen as anyone with more advanced dementia should be watched to ensure they take their medication especially in a facility such as an EMI unit or wherever they were being observed. No one should be accruing medications in a care facility and god knows what would happen if someone tried to take them all one day. I think you do need to go backwards and report your finding to the relevant care facility -sorry but this is just not safe or acceptable practice.

On a lighter note as others have noted my mum had a thing for tissues, when she had gone into care and I was tidying up the house ready to sell her dresser was just stuffed full of tissues in each draw and in that chaos was a hidden stash of chocolate bars, predominantly Bounty bars

 

[Andrea_22]

My mum is known as the magpie at her care home because when things go missing they generally find them in her room! On Saturday she was wearing someone else's clothes, carrying someone elses handbag and as usual wearing someone else's glasses..
I've found medication in her room a few times, I assume it's hers. I just hand it over to the care staff on my way out.

 

[SAP]

hate to add a more serious comment -but some questions need to be asked as to how they got there and who has been missing important medication? -which might explain some changes in behaviour or wellbeing

This could have been from 12 months or more ago. Mum has been in her current home for over a year now and the medication is given and watched going down. During the last 12 months mum doesn’t even know she had a wardrobe let alone find her coat to hide things in. The other residents are mostly bed bound. But I agree , my original post was really meant a a work of warning but there is a lighter element to the squirrelling away of all manner of things.

 

[AAK2023]

With my mum it was sausages, she has never liked them so she pockets them for the “cat”

Oh bless. Is the cat a real cat, or...?

 

[Sally6115]

Yes if we don’t look out my dad wears my mums coat or jumpers, so we’ve had to hang them up and put a lock on the wardrobe door now, he also wears an old gardening coat indoors, no zip ripped lining but won’t give it up until bedtime
today, when his carer came to put him to bed, he had three pairs of trousers on and two jumpers, which he wouldn’t have given up to me even if I had of asked