So after a couple of good months in her care home, things have gone downhill with Mum and she is now back in hospital.
She developed shingles at the end of September, eating went out of the window and she lost quite a lot of weight by late October. She couldn’t remember that she had shingles and kept scratching the blisters until she got an infection. Antibiotics for that, then more antibiotics for a UTI. She didn’t seem too bad when I saw her on 28 October, though she was definitely more confused than before.
Then on 1 November she fell in her room, banged her arm and her head, resulting in a trip to A&E. She was there for 12 hours or so, they did put her on intravenous fluids whilst there which seemed to have a positive effect on her appetite. Otherwise they said all ok, CT scan didn’t show any bleeding in the brain.
However, despite having been given the all clear at A&E, on 10 November she was back there with a high temperature, confusion and a really severe haematoma on her forearm. She had been mobile as usual two days before, then the day before it needed 2 people to get her out of bed, then on the day she went to hospital she couldn’t be got up at all. So she has been admitted, is on strong antibiotics for what they hope is cellulitis (but might be an infection within the haematoma itself) and has had more scans and X-rays which has picked up and intraventricular bleed in the brain. She’s mostly sleeping, very confused , often unwilling to eat or drink though that does vary, and completely unwilling to attempt even sitting on the side of the bed. Today the nurse said she had been resisting them when they attempted washing and pad changing though that’s the first time that’s been mentioned.
To be honest I was prepared today for them to say they would stop treatment, but no they are going to keep with it for now. I am not rushing to make the 200 mile journey, I will have to book a visit which will be max 30 minutes, in full PPE so she will probably not know who I am anyway. I’m scheduled to g9 next week so hope to book to see her then, more in the hope of speaking to a doctor than anything else.
On top of that my dad is becoming increasingly confused so I’m getting some very odd calls from him. It seems to have coincided with the clock change so I’m hoping it will settle but it is a concern. He has been thoroughly checked by the GP including blood tests and there is no infection or other obvious cause. He is in the house, alone and bedridden, for probably 20 hours in every 24 but will not even begin to consider trying a care home.
I am doing my best to keep calm and carry on, I have already been down twice in the last 3 weeks and don’t feel the answer is to keep dashing there but like everyone else on here I have the constant nagging guilt lurking just under the surface. I just want to know when this is going to end, sounds awful I know but none of the three of us is enjoying this.
She developed shingles at the end of September, eating went out of the window and she lost quite a lot of weight by late October. She couldn’t remember that she had shingles and kept scratching the blisters until she got an infection. Antibiotics for that, then more antibiotics for a UTI. She didn’t seem too bad when I saw her on 28 October, though she was definitely more confused than before.
Then on 1 November she fell in her room, banged her arm and her head, resulting in a trip to A&E. She was there for 12 hours or so, they did put her on intravenous fluids whilst there which seemed to have a positive effect on her appetite. Otherwise they said all ok, CT scan didn’t show any bleeding in the brain.
However, despite having been given the all clear at A&E, on 10 November she was back there with a high temperature, confusion and a really severe haematoma on her forearm. She had been mobile as usual two days before, then the day before it needed 2 people to get her out of bed, then on the day she went to hospital she couldn’t be got up at all. So she has been admitted, is on strong antibiotics for what they hope is cellulitis (but might be an infection within the haematoma itself) and has had more scans and X-rays which has picked up and intraventricular bleed in the brain. She’s mostly sleeping, very confused , often unwilling to eat or drink though that does vary, and completely unwilling to attempt even sitting on the side of the bed. Today the nurse said she had been resisting them when they attempted washing and pad changing though that’s the first time that’s been mentioned.
To be honest I was prepared today for them to say they would stop treatment, but no they are going to keep with it for now. I am not rushing to make the 200 mile journey, I will have to book a visit which will be max 30 minutes, in full PPE so she will probably not know who I am anyway. I’m scheduled to g9 next week so hope to book to see her then, more in the hope of speaking to a doctor than anything else.
On top of that my dad is becoming increasingly confused so I’m getting some very odd calls from him. It seems to have coincided with the clock change so I’m hoping it will settle but it is a concern. He has been thoroughly checked by the GP including blood tests and there is no infection or other obvious cause. He is in the house, alone and bedridden, for probably 20 hours in every 24 but will not even begin to consider trying a care home.
I am doing my best to keep calm and carry on, I have already been down twice in the last 3 weeks and don’t feel the answer is to keep dashing there but like everyone else on here I have the constant nagging guilt lurking just under the surface. I just want to know when this is going to end, sounds awful I know but none of the three of us is enjoying this.