Hello,
I am a newbie, and I hope you guys can help direct me!
Currently we are staying with my mum in law, in her house. In December 06 we came to live with her after spending a few years overseas. The plan was just to stay for a few months while my OH looked for a job. We hadn't been back to the UK for 4.5 years because of financial issues, so we were shocked to find that she weighed less than 7 stone, after being about 12.5 stone her whole life. We knew something wasn't quite right... but didn't suspect anything.
Within 2 weeks, she came down with life threatening pneumonia and sepsis. She was in hospital for 2 weeks. She also had a slight heart attack while in hospital. A week after being discharged, she had a stroke. She spent six weeks in hospital this time, and during that time she had bouts of delusions and hallucinations, and was quite up and down mentally and emotionally. By the time she came home, she was doing much better. However, since coming home, she has deteriorated. She does not eat most of the time, and averages about 500 calories a day... many days her calories come solely from nutrition/ milk drinks. She does not get out of bed; just stares into space. 2 weeks ago she had a TIA/ mini stroke. She was in hospital for 3 days. On the day she was to be discharged, she walked out of the hospital and showed up at the door in her hospital gown. She still had the IV cannula in her arm, and she was waving at and talking to her friend's husband, whom she had duped into giving her a lift home, insisting he was standing in the garden when he had clearly left. She has spent the past 2 weeks in bed, not with it at all but not apparently hallucinating or delusional.
However, since yesterday, we have been very alarmed and troubled... she thought my husband (her son) was her deceased husband, and last night at about 2 AM she got her handbag and put on her shirt over her nightie and insisted she was at "Relate" relationship counseling with her deceased husband, and would D (my husband) please fetch her home? She was talking for ages, with no one in the room, to God knows who... anyway right now she is in bedl... but we don't know where to go from here.
We have two small children and we are worried that she will put them, us, or herself in danger. She has over the past 24 hours started clearing her throat a lot... very noticeably... is this significant?
What do we do? Who do we call? At this point she weighs less than 6.5 stone... for the past few weeks we have been worried about her health; now we are worried about her (and our) safety. She is 64 next month. I do not think it is alzheimers, since she has the background of the recent strokes... Since she was signed out of the hospital in apparently good health, she has not had any follow up care (aside from seeing her GP) and things are deteriorating. Do we just call her GP?
What do we do if there is a situation where she is delusional/ hallucinating/ talking nonsense? Just try and calm her down? Call 999?
Sorry if this is all a bit of a jumble; just trying to give as much info as possible. She has multiple other health conditions, such as diabetes, depression and an intestinal cramping problem that is yet to be diagnosed.
Thank you.
I am a newbie, and I hope you guys can help direct me!
Currently we are staying with my mum in law, in her house. In December 06 we came to live with her after spending a few years overseas. The plan was just to stay for a few months while my OH looked for a job. We hadn't been back to the UK for 4.5 years because of financial issues, so we were shocked to find that she weighed less than 7 stone, after being about 12.5 stone her whole life. We knew something wasn't quite right... but didn't suspect anything.
Within 2 weeks, she came down with life threatening pneumonia and sepsis. She was in hospital for 2 weeks. She also had a slight heart attack while in hospital. A week after being discharged, she had a stroke. She spent six weeks in hospital this time, and during that time she had bouts of delusions and hallucinations, and was quite up and down mentally and emotionally. By the time she came home, she was doing much better. However, since coming home, she has deteriorated. She does not eat most of the time, and averages about 500 calories a day... many days her calories come solely from nutrition/ milk drinks. She does not get out of bed; just stares into space. 2 weeks ago she had a TIA/ mini stroke. She was in hospital for 3 days. On the day she was to be discharged, she walked out of the hospital and showed up at the door in her hospital gown. She still had the IV cannula in her arm, and she was waving at and talking to her friend's husband, whom she had duped into giving her a lift home, insisting he was standing in the garden when he had clearly left. She has spent the past 2 weeks in bed, not with it at all but not apparently hallucinating or delusional.
However, since yesterday, we have been very alarmed and troubled... she thought my husband (her son) was her deceased husband, and last night at about 2 AM she got her handbag and put on her shirt over her nightie and insisted she was at "Relate" relationship counseling with her deceased husband, and would D (my husband) please fetch her home? She was talking for ages, with no one in the room, to God knows who... anyway right now she is in bedl... but we don't know where to go from here.
We have two small children and we are worried that she will put them, us, or herself in danger. She has over the past 24 hours started clearing her throat a lot... very noticeably... is this significant?
What do we do? Who do we call? At this point she weighs less than 6.5 stone... for the past few weeks we have been worried about her health; now we are worried about her (and our) safety. She is 64 next month. I do not think it is alzheimers, since she has the background of the recent strokes... Since she was signed out of the hospital in apparently good health, she has not had any follow up care (aside from seeing her GP) and things are deteriorating. Do we just call her GP?
What do we do if there is a situation where she is delusional/ hallucinating/ talking nonsense? Just try and calm her down? Call 999?
Sorry if this is all a bit of a jumble; just trying to give as much info as possible. She has multiple other health conditions, such as diabetes, depression and an intestinal cramping problem that is yet to be diagnosed.
Thank you.