My mom has had a rough week. Last Friday (8 days ago) she fell. At the time it did not seem like a big deal. The dementia home got her up and walking, so it appeared nothing was broken. She was real tired, but that's happened before when she has fallen.
The next day she was "lethargic" per the home; we went to take her to the doctor and she was really sick by that time. Getting to the doctors' office was horrible; she was squirming, obviously distressed, saying "I can't, I can't, I can't, help me, help me, help me...." over and over. Previously, while not really able to carry on a conversation, I think she could adequtely express physical pain, like "My knees hurt." On this occasion, however, asking her if/where she hurt was not getting any coherent response.
Fortunately the doctors' office we went to had an Urgent Care unit, where we spent a very long afternoon. The diagnosis was urinary tract infection, dehydration, but nothing broken. The doctor admitted her to hospital.
The hospital did more X-rays, and here things got real confused. We got varying reports about whether or not she had a broken hip (an "old" fracture ... did that mean one week old? years old? ) and whether surgery was indicated. Yesterday after quite a few phone calls amongst me, my husband, the floor doctor at the hospital, and the nurses at Silverado (Mom's dementia home), the doctors were saying surgery was a bad idea and the nurses as Silverado were afraid they were writing Mom off too easily. But we got the orthodaedist at the hospital and the head nurse at Silverado talking directly to each other (without the medically uneducated like me in between), and while it is still not clear exactly what's what with Mom's bones, all were in agreement that she should not have surgery.
I'm relieved at this, as was Mom's GP. Putting her through a major surgery at this point seemed too much to risk more pain and distress.
So yesterday afternoon she was released back to Silverado. She's mostly been sleeping since she's been there. (They have her on constant pain medication, which is probably part of the reason.) So far no major problems. Time will tell how well she bounces back. The Silverado nurses seem optimistic of getting her on her feet again. The floor doctor at the hospital was more pessimistic, telling me to be prepared for this being the beginning of the end.
I don't have kids so don't have experience with sick babies, but I have had several dogs. Same sort of frustration when they are sick or in pain, but can't tell you what hurts or what happened.
Karen
The next day she was "lethargic" per the home; we went to take her to the doctor and she was really sick by that time. Getting to the doctors' office was horrible; she was squirming, obviously distressed, saying "I can't, I can't, I can't, help me, help me, help me...." over and over. Previously, while not really able to carry on a conversation, I think she could adequtely express physical pain, like "My knees hurt." On this occasion, however, asking her if/where she hurt was not getting any coherent response.
Fortunately the doctors' office we went to had an Urgent Care unit, where we spent a very long afternoon. The diagnosis was urinary tract infection, dehydration, but nothing broken. The doctor admitted her to hospital.
The hospital did more X-rays, and here things got real confused. We got varying reports about whether or not she had a broken hip (an "old" fracture ... did that mean one week old? years old? ) and whether surgery was indicated. Yesterday after quite a few phone calls amongst me, my husband, the floor doctor at the hospital, and the nurses at Silverado (Mom's dementia home), the doctors were saying surgery was a bad idea and the nurses as Silverado were afraid they were writing Mom off too easily. But we got the orthodaedist at the hospital and the head nurse at Silverado talking directly to each other (without the medically uneducated like me in between), and while it is still not clear exactly what's what with Mom's bones, all were in agreement that she should not have surgery.
I'm relieved at this, as was Mom's GP. Putting her through a major surgery at this point seemed too much to risk more pain and distress.
So yesterday afternoon she was released back to Silverado. She's mostly been sleeping since she's been there. (They have her on constant pain medication, which is probably part of the reason.) So far no major problems. Time will tell how well she bounces back. The Silverado nurses seem optimistic of getting her on her feet again. The floor doctor at the hospital was more pessimistic, telling me to be prepared for this being the beginning of the end.
I don't have kids so don't have experience with sick babies, but I have had several dogs. Same sort of frustration when they are sick or in pain, but can't tell you what hurts or what happened.
Karen