Hello everybody,
I've been reading through a lot of these posts and have been comforted greatly by the thought that other people are experiencing the same things.
My Grandma is at the end stage of Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. She is in a nursing home and being cared for. We were told yesterday that she will be having MacMillan nurses coming now.
For the past two months she has been in and out of hospital due to dehydration, she hasn't eaten or drunk for a while. When she tries to drink she looks petrified because she has lost the ability to swallow, a nurse basically massages anything she takes down her throat.
We have been told that the next time she has an infection, as she's been developing lots of UTI's that she won't be transported to hospital and will be given morphine so at the moment we are just waiting for another infection. We had all decided that not treating was the best for her, until we were told by the Doctor's that this is what they'd be doing. This is when it became real.
My Dad is not coping very well, and is basically living at her bedside. My Uncle who has POA has just been admitted to hospital himself due to the stress and the Grandchildren are picking up a lot of the strain. It's now got to the point that every phone call that comes through we expect to be 'the call'.
Grandma is no longer able to talk, she just growls. Her body has seized up completely with just her eyes moving. This is the hardest thing I've ever gone through and had to watch. As cousins we are all rallying together for our parents but each of us have limited knowledge as to what is going on as our parents aren't taking everything in which is to be expected.
My husband doesn't really know what to say so I don't have any output. I know Grandma is being looked after, but I don't know what to expect. No one knows how long Grandma has left, but we've been told to expect days or weeks. No longer. It's absolutely heartbreaking and I can't seem to make my peace with it yet.
Suppose I just needed to say this in a place where other people understand what's happening.
A
I've been reading through a lot of these posts and have been comforted greatly by the thought that other people are experiencing the same things.
My Grandma is at the end stage of Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. She is in a nursing home and being cared for. We were told yesterday that she will be having MacMillan nurses coming now.
For the past two months she has been in and out of hospital due to dehydration, she hasn't eaten or drunk for a while. When she tries to drink she looks petrified because she has lost the ability to swallow, a nurse basically massages anything she takes down her throat.
We have been told that the next time she has an infection, as she's been developing lots of UTI's that she won't be transported to hospital and will be given morphine so at the moment we are just waiting for another infection. We had all decided that not treating was the best for her, until we were told by the Doctor's that this is what they'd be doing. This is when it became real.
My Dad is not coping very well, and is basically living at her bedside. My Uncle who has POA has just been admitted to hospital himself due to the stress and the Grandchildren are picking up a lot of the strain. It's now got to the point that every phone call that comes through we expect to be 'the call'.
Grandma is no longer able to talk, she just growls. Her body has seized up completely with just her eyes moving. This is the hardest thing I've ever gone through and had to watch. As cousins we are all rallying together for our parents but each of us have limited knowledge as to what is going on as our parents aren't taking everything in which is to be expected.
My husband doesn't really know what to say so I don't have any output. I know Grandma is being looked after, but I don't know what to expect. No one knows how long Grandma has left, but we've been told to expect days or weeks. No longer. It's absolutely heartbreaking and I can't seem to make my peace with it yet.
Suppose I just needed to say this in a place where other people understand what's happening.
A