I am new here and I have been caring for my Mom(95yrs old)for over a year now who has Alz,Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body, Sundowners and Stage 4 Kidney Disease and now on Hospice care at home even though she has some mobility.She was diagnosed about 2 years ago but we think she has had it at least 7-8 years due to the things I was seeing and hearing her do.
I am the baby of 5 and the only one caring for my Mom because the others have no relationship with us except for my 1 older brother that lives in Col. Too long of a story to discuss but a very dysfunctional family and I myself am a Heart patient and have other health issues.
Before my Mom turned 95 on May 30th she was in the hospital for a pooping issues that wouldn't stop so the ER admitted her, they discovered she had Colitis, Stage 4 Kidney Disease and she was pretty dehydrated so after 2 days in the hospital the Dr came to me and said he thought she needed to be on Hospice care even though she is still mobile some and uses a walker. She still eats really good but doesn't get but about 16oz of liquids a day because she refuses to drink due to incontinence. Her walking is not very good now even with a metal walker and she has fallen quite a few times. Her demeanor is kind of nasty before the disease and all the issues make it 1000 times worse.
So she's been on home Hospice now for a month and the nurse comes out once a week and an aide comes to bathe her as well. Hospice has prescribed Lorazepam and Trazadone but both meds at full strength cause her to fall and I can't have her having a broken bone so we have only been giving her 1/2 of each plus a piece of a 1/2 to try and get her built up to full dose. She is very restless at night and is up/down scratching her head and hallucinating, talking to her imaginary friends etc. She see's people in her room on a daily basis and now when you ask her what her age is she replies 54 which is my age. Yesterday I noticed that both sides of her face near her temple is sunken in pretty bad and the nurse said it is because she is wasting away. She has gone from 130 pounds to 119 in a year and we weighed her today and the scale showed 100 so I am hoping thats not right cause thats a huge loss in 1 month. The last few days she has had an upset stomach and wouldn't eat breakfast but ate dinner despite her stomach still bothering her but I am really worried about the severe dehydration and her lack of drinking in fluids. Anyway, I apologize for this being so long, I am just taking it day by day and trying to read and understand all the changes these nasty diseases take.
I am the baby of 5 and the only one caring for my Mom because the others have no relationship with us except for my 1 older brother that lives in Col. Too long of a story to discuss but a very dysfunctional family and I myself am a Heart patient and have other health issues.
Before my Mom turned 95 on May 30th she was in the hospital for a pooping issues that wouldn't stop so the ER admitted her, they discovered she had Colitis, Stage 4 Kidney Disease and she was pretty dehydrated so after 2 days in the hospital the Dr came to me and said he thought she needed to be on Hospice care even though she is still mobile some and uses a walker. She still eats really good but doesn't get but about 16oz of liquids a day because she refuses to drink due to incontinence. Her walking is not very good now even with a metal walker and she has fallen quite a few times. Her demeanor is kind of nasty before the disease and all the issues make it 1000 times worse.
So she's been on home Hospice now for a month and the nurse comes out once a week and an aide comes to bathe her as well. Hospice has prescribed Lorazepam and Trazadone but both meds at full strength cause her to fall and I can't have her having a broken bone so we have only been giving her 1/2 of each plus a piece of a 1/2 to try and get her built up to full dose. She is very restless at night and is up/down scratching her head and hallucinating, talking to her imaginary friends etc. She see's people in her room on a daily basis and now when you ask her what her age is she replies 54 which is my age. Yesterday I noticed that both sides of her face near her temple is sunken in pretty bad and the nurse said it is because she is wasting away. She has gone from 130 pounds to 119 in a year and we weighed her today and the scale showed 100 so I am hoping thats not right cause thats a huge loss in 1 month. The last few days she has had an upset stomach and wouldn't eat breakfast but ate dinner despite her stomach still bothering her but I am really worried about the severe dehydration and her lack of drinking in fluids. Anyway, I apologize for this being so long, I am just taking it day by day and trying to read and understand all the changes these nasty diseases take.
