Hi everyone,
It’s been really helpful to read all the support on here and I wondered if anyone might have some advice to offer in our situation.
Mum was diagnosed with atypical AD about 5 years ago in her v early 70s. She is otherwise in really good health. Her decline has been gradual, characterised by plateaus and steps. She has been in a wonderful CH for the last 3y. They have, to the best of all our knowledge (as no one was tested in early days), remained Covid-free. By March, I’d have said she was moderate-late stage. Very unwell but still knew who we all were and was able to enjoy a reasonable degree of quality of life. She could speak although you couldn’t often understand what she was saying, she was reasonably mobile although struggling with balance, fully independent in terms of eating and drinking.
She was admitted to hospital in early April with a severe infection, we never found out what it was, all tests including Covid were negative. She was almost totally non-responsive although conscious. She stayed in for a week and it was treated as Covid, but never came out with any new symptoms so clearly hadn’t picked it up when in hospital, hence one of the reasons we think it probably was Covid.
Anyway, since then (8 weeks), she has made absolutely zero progress in her recovery. She cannot say a single word, can’t weight bear or stand at all, can’t sit straight in a wheelchair, can’t eat or drink independently and often doesn’t recognise when she’s being presented with food, and is totally disoriented. I genuinely think that for the first time, she has absolutely no idea who we are. She’s asleep most of the day and night, she’s not on any medication now. If anything, she’s continuing to decline slowly although this could be because she’s not been able to do anything.
It feels to me like we are reaching the end butI’m in despair as I don’t know whether this rapid decline is normal or something else. It’s clear it’s not just going to get better which is what we had all expected to some degree.
With apologies for the long post, have other people experienced this very sudden and severe decline, what happened next, is it normal (surely not for this long after an infection?) or any chance she could perk up? What are your experiences, what should I be prepared for, obv without anyone having a crystal ball etc)?
I just feel like there is this huge void, she’s just not there anymore and I don’t know if she will her come back.
Thanks so much for tour
It’s been really helpful to read all the support on here and I wondered if anyone might have some advice to offer in our situation.
Mum was diagnosed with atypical AD about 5 years ago in her v early 70s. She is otherwise in really good health. Her decline has been gradual, characterised by plateaus and steps. She has been in a wonderful CH for the last 3y. They have, to the best of all our knowledge (as no one was tested in early days), remained Covid-free. By March, I’d have said she was moderate-late stage. Very unwell but still knew who we all were and was able to enjoy a reasonable degree of quality of life. She could speak although you couldn’t often understand what she was saying, she was reasonably mobile although struggling with balance, fully independent in terms of eating and drinking.
She was admitted to hospital in early April with a severe infection, we never found out what it was, all tests including Covid were negative. She was almost totally non-responsive although conscious. She stayed in for a week and it was treated as Covid, but never came out with any new symptoms so clearly hadn’t picked it up when in hospital, hence one of the reasons we think it probably was Covid.
Anyway, since then (8 weeks), she has made absolutely zero progress in her recovery. She cannot say a single word, can’t weight bear or stand at all, can’t sit straight in a wheelchair, can’t eat or drink independently and often doesn’t recognise when she’s being presented with food, and is totally disoriented. I genuinely think that for the first time, she has absolutely no idea who we are. She’s asleep most of the day and night, she’s not on any medication now. If anything, she’s continuing to decline slowly although this could be because she’s not been able to do anything.
It feels to me like we are reaching the end butI’m in despair as I don’t know whether this rapid decline is normal or something else. It’s clear it’s not just going to get better which is what we had all expected to some degree.
With apologies for the long post, have other people experienced this very sudden and severe decline, what happened next, is it normal (surely not for this long after an infection?) or any chance she could perk up? What are your experiences, what should I be prepared for, obv without anyone having a crystal ball etc)?
I just feel like there is this huge void, she’s just not there anymore and I don’t know if she will her come back.
Thanks so much for tour