Hello everyone
I’ve arrived here late in my mum’s Alzheimer’s journey ( now 78) and the last few weeks have been quite stressful to say the least. She lives at home with my dad ( her husband of almost 61 years and partner for almost 65) and has been diagnosed for just over 5 years. She has aphasia and her speech deteriorated quickly as did her ability to write and read. In the last year her mobility was also lost and she is hoisted into a chair each day from her bed and stays there all day. She was eating finger foods and drinking with very little support up until about a month ago when she became ill with a chest infection which became sepsis. After 72 hrs in hospital ( being given fluids due to high sodium levels ) she returned home ( l ss than a week before Dec 25th) and since then, bar Christmas Day, she has stayed in bed and been pretty much asleep all day. She will eat yogurt and trifles etc and had food on Christmas Day but drinking is harder. She is having two Ensure drinks daily but not enough water. She has a few sores which the DN said was usually a sign of EOL but her BP, SATS etc are all good. Sometimes she smiles and says one word or two but will also eat and drink with eyes closed. My poor dad (83) is beside himself at night when they are alone and so we are now awaiting Fast Track for a nursing home for EOL care. I’ve found posts on here so useful but also made me wonder now how near to the end we are… seems experiences are so varied and often as individual as the people themselves!
Anyway to be honest I just needed to write it down to help process it all…
I’ve arrived here late in my mum’s Alzheimer’s journey ( now 78) and the last few weeks have been quite stressful to say the least. She lives at home with my dad ( her husband of almost 61 years and partner for almost 65) and has been diagnosed for just over 5 years. She has aphasia and her speech deteriorated quickly as did her ability to write and read. In the last year her mobility was also lost and she is hoisted into a chair each day from her bed and stays there all day. She was eating finger foods and drinking with very little support up until about a month ago when she became ill with a chest infection which became sepsis. After 72 hrs in hospital ( being given fluids due to high sodium levels ) she returned home ( l ss than a week before Dec 25th) and since then, bar Christmas Day, she has stayed in bed and been pretty much asleep all day. She will eat yogurt and trifles etc and had food on Christmas Day but drinking is harder. She is having two Ensure drinks daily but not enough water. She has a few sores which the DN said was usually a sign of EOL but her BP, SATS etc are all good. Sometimes she smiles and says one word or two but will also eat and drink with eyes closed. My poor dad (83) is beside himself at night when they are alone and so we are now awaiting Fast Track for a nursing home for EOL care. I’ve found posts on here so useful but also made me wonder now how near to the end we are… seems experiences are so varied and often as individual as the people themselves!
Anyway to be honest I just needed to write it down to help process it all…
