Phone rings at 6 a.m. Y'all know the drill: heart starts racing, etc. brain jumping ahead to possibilities. Then you hear that woman's voice, "This is Whatshername from Wherever Skilled Nursing unit ..." Yikes!

As it turned out, she'd woken up early and decided to try to get out of bed herself and, of course, fell. (sigh)

What's crazy is that she usually can't sit herself up and has to be moved with a lift. Not sure what this sudden energy surge means ...

But I couldn't get back to sleep. My body is still prepared for a crisis.

It's not really a big surprise. Her dentist told us a year ago that she needed work, but we had to cancel the next appointment because she ended up in the hospital with that deep vein thrombosis. Then couldn't do the work while she was on coumadin; doctor didn't want it started. Then she came off the coumadin a few months ago, but the doctor thought she was too frail for the extensive dental work she needs. She doesn't eat solid foods anyway.

I don't know why we didn't think of it to start with. The SNF had checked her for a UTI and didn't find anything and we were all scratching our heads until an aide was feeding her bites of ice cream sundae on a special occasion and she complained that the ice cream hurt. *light bulb goes on* She'd been eating her meals okay up to that point, allowing herself to be fed by the aide.

Anyway, one more thing to watch for, y'all, when they're unusually rowdy.

Mom's dentist told me almost a year ago, he would not do more than clean unless she was in PAIN. Now she has this strange biting reflex going on. Before we understood and found vinyl covered baby spoons for her, she broke 3 teeth chomping down on a regular spoon. Now she bit her priest during communion.

MB is correct. Dentistry is a huge issue. Infections can go to the heart. If they need extraction, you have to take them off blood thinners and put them on antibiotics. They lose their dentures and can't tolerate replacement fittings. SUCKS....

quote:

Weird how they can be raising sand about every little thing, yet not be able to identify and communicate a very specific pain.

That's such a gut wrenching thing - we TRY to be sensitive and keep our radar up to their general welfare, but it's so hard to *guess* their internal condition. Dentistry is a huge problem for folks who care for their LOs at home. So glad she can be seen by a dentist who comes to her.

Mystery solved. She has an abscessed tooth and toothache. Doctor prescribed painkiller and antibiotics. We'll discuss arrangements about having the tooth pulled next week. She's not in condition to be taken to her regular dentist, but they do have a geriatric dentist who comes to the nursing home.

Weird how they can be raising sand about every little thing, yet not be able to identify and communicate a very specific pain.

I agree with MB about the UTI but in the evening? Not all day or periodically throughout the day?
So the next question is meds...since shes in a SNF the biggest mistake (or whatever you want to call it) is leaving a person on meds for extended periods of time rather than like hands on CG's do when we see a problem we tend to jump all over it check for the usual culprits and when that doesnt garner anything we then attack meds to see if theres a larger dosage or a different med all together
The biggest problem I see is Aricept being used alone and at the same mg's with no changes for extended periods of time and the person/s are not having a good quality of life.
Could this be the problem in your case maybe not but its worth a look

I agree. My husband is wonderful with her! Of course, I almost always think he's wonderful.

Dropped by today and talked to the head RN at the SNF. On Sunday it was weekend staff. All wonderful, but it's the weekday staff that has the better big picture. She agrees with me that this seems to be a change, but nothing she can see that seems urgent to call the hospice RN out on a special trip. So for the time being barring something obviously medical showing up, we decided to watch her carefully and leave a note in the front of the chart for hospice and we'll see what she thinks about the behavioral change. She's expected on Tuesday (tomorrow) or Wednesday.

Also got a note in the mail today that her care plan meeting is next week. The doctor usually examines her right before the meeting. Those are always interesting because you do get input from a lot of various people who see her every day.

I guess we're just wanting to be able to prepare ourselves for what to expect, if she's entering some new phase or ??? Also so that we can prepare some of the other family. They never visit her or call, and honestly if we're reaching some milestone we want them to know so that they can visit her NOW and we don't have to listen to all their regrets later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: T.O.R.P.,

I started to reply to this the other night, but somehow "lost" my post.

I also think your husband did GREAT. Mom has a lot of company during the night now (well, for the last few months, really). She made one lady get her into her wheel chair and ride her around the house at 3 AM, because she just knew Aunt Flo was waiting in the "parlor".

I don't usually get calls unless she is on the floor or scares the bejeebers out of the CG, but.....24/7 are US

Just because nothing has outwardly changed doesn't mean that she isn't cooking a UTI or the meds are not working the way they once did or that she hasn't had a little "episode" in the cranium... The days are shortening now, and sundowning is driving a LOT of folks nutz. Seems like we have heard a lot of problems around this season over the years...

I hadda smile at how adroitly your husband handled the call... how wise he was to "feel" around until he found a point in time that she could kinda remember so he could form his answers in a way that would comfort her... Good man!!

I'll bet he DID run that cover story once or twice in the past successfully...

...Sigh...

As things change sometimes, so they remain the same!

We got another late evening call on Saturday. She was agitated and very confused. She had asked to speak to my husband, so the nurse dialed for her. She wanted to go home and wouldn't cooperate with the staff. She was worried because she thought her mother-in-law had "the children" and wouldn't take good care of them.

Weird conversation -- I could only hear my husband's side -- but he just played along, kept having to remind her through the call who she was speaking with, said he'd go check on his sister (older than him and deceased many years ago), told her repeatedly that no, he wasn't going to "come home" that night and would see her tomorrow. He finally told her that he was watching television at his friend's house (someone he grew up with in the neighborhood) and was going to "spend the night."

Now that last made me laugh because I wondered how many times he told THAT story as a teenager.

Of course, she was really crashed yesterday when we went. But the thing that's puzzling us is the agitation and these wide-awake episodes are suddenly more frequent than we've seen in a couple of years, and certainly over the past year when she sleeps almost all the time.

It's the same staff that have cared for her for almost three years now except periodic visits by the hospice and she seems to like them. No changes in medication.

Does anyone have any insight? Does this mean anything?

quote:

Originally posted by Bunnys_grl:
She is ok Torp?
I hate those pc's and I HATE when they get that burst of energy....scares the everlovin cr*p outta me and there I go on high alert.... you know....

Oh yeah. We ALL know, which is why I whined here. I don't think anybody else would get it.

Went by and she was sleeping. She's okay. They always set her bed as close to the floor as possible after they put her into it for exactly this reason. She doesn't decide very often to get herself out of bed, but it's happened a time or two when she was feeling her oats.

She is ok Torp?
I hate those pc's and I HATE when they get that burst of energy....scares the everlovin cr*p outta me and there I go on high alert.... you know....

Oh yeah, "Mom's all right but ..." is always the second sentence they speak. But it's just that telephone ringing late at night or early in the morning never bears good news so even before you have picked up the receiver, your body has already dumped a load of adrenaline into your system. It's after 11 here, and I'm still edgy as if I'm supposed to be doing something.

I'm going to run over and check on her later, but expect to find her crashed. Her surges don't last long, and take a lot out of her.

I can remember telling them where my Dad was, when you call me you say right away: It's not an emergency, if it isn't. I used to get so upset with them at times,they would call for the silliest things at like 6am !!! I of course didn't mind when it was important, I have to say when my Dad passed, that was the first thing I noticed when my phone rang, what it wasn't.

TORP I know the feeling. I HATED that, your heart just races.I feel for you.