I think that in order to write about what's recently happened, I have to give some background about my dad. He has many health problems, the most prominent being diabetes. He is a VERY stubborn person and no matter how hard he's hasn't tried to make any attempts at controlling it. He does take some meds for it, but only because my mom gives them to him every day. He refuses to take insulin or watch his diet. He is also suffering from severe dementia...pretty much all of the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. This doesn't help matters at all. He often forgets he has diabetes and I'm sure that's part of the reason he doesn't control his diet even if we try to explain over and over that he needs to eat better and buy him healthy foods. So that just compounds the problem...one thing feeds on the other. He's had these problems for many years now and I guess it's finally caught up with him.
Both of these things are very difficult to deal with and have recently gotten worse. He's had very severe symptoms with the diabetes, including dizziness, weakness, weight loss, fatigue, being very cold, incontinence, etc. And with the Alzheimer's has come extreme forgetfulness, confusion (both of which are also symptoms of untreated diabetes, so that is compounded), stubborness, not trying to take care of himself at all...not even caring about his hygiene or shaving. He often repeats the same questions or topics over and over, sometimes within a five minute time span. I know it is not his fault but it can get so trying and upsetting. And I know some of it is, like I said, just plain stubbornness. My mom and I try so hard to explain to him what is going on but it's really fruitless because he won't remember it in the next day, much less within in few hours. My mom is his primary caregiver and I go over a few times a week to do shopping, take them to appoitnments, and I try to stay for a while but it's hard to be around. I feel so badly for my mom...she bears the brunt of all of this and it is really taking its toll on her, causing her great depression.
So that leads us to the most recent events. On the 3rd he and my mom were taking a walk down to a nearby store and he just fell for what seemed like no apparent reason. He didn't trip...my mom said he just went down hard on his right side. I think he probably got dizzy, but he doesn't know. He told my mom that he was okay, but by Wednesday the 4th he was doing really bad. He couldn't get up and walk anywhere on his own...to the bathroom (he could barely make it), to his room...he needed total assistance from my mom and a walker. He was crying out in pain when he had to get up and down. He tends to exaggerate a lot, but I think he was doing pretty bad. So we decided to call the doctor and he coudln't get in until Thursday the 6th. What an ordeal it was to get him there. We ended up having to get a neighbor to help us get him out to the car and he was moaning loudly the whole time. His arm also kept shaking on and off...almost like he was having muscle spasms. So We had to get him into my car, then out of my car and into the doctor's office, then back out again.
The doctor took x-rays of his back and his hand (the latter of which was very swollen), but everything came back fine. The doctor also had him get blood work. He was sent home with some pain meds and that was that. At about 8pm that evening I got a call from an on-call doctor telling me that I needed to get him to the ER because his blood work flagged...his blood glucose levels were dangerously high...560, and normal is 70-100. I don't even know how he was still alive. The doctor said they were going to put him on an insulin drip and he'd probably be there overnight. By then I was soooo tired that I felt very sleepy on the drive home.
The ER was PACKED when we got there, but luckily they took him back w/in 10-15 mins, I guess because of his condition and that a doctor had called it in. The triage nurse pricked his finger to get check his blood sugar levels and it just came spurting out. She said she'd never seen that happen before. I was like, "whoa!" I was about to say that seeing that doesn't bother me b/c of all the times my mom has been through blood tests and such, but I can't deal with seeing my own blood in a vial. Right before I started to say that I felt really dizzy and clammy and had to lie down. Luckily there was a bed right behind the area. I have no idea why that happened. Very weird. Then when they took him back to an ER bed I started feeling woozy again and one of the nurses gave me a cold washcloth and some ice water. ALL of the times I've gone through the ER and hospital with my mom and only a few times have I been affected like this, so it was really weird. I was able to relax after a while and I think part of it was just psyching myself out.
I stayed with him for about 3-4 hours while they ran different tests...mostly blood work and an MRI as he had because he a bruise on his head from the fall. During the wait he had to urinate several times...the nurse gave him a urinal bottle since he couldn't get up and then she took it and brought it back. The next few times I HAD TO HAND IT TO HIM MYSELF!!! He was saying, "I have to go now!" There were no nurses around that I could grab really quickly for help and it wasn't close enough for him to get it himself. I know they're busy, but they pretty much relied on me to do it. I grabbed latex gloves each time and then stood outside with the curtain drawn and of course washed my hands afterward. And he had to use the same bottle each time without it being emptied. I couldn't believe they weren't more attentive about that. I'M NOT A NURSE! Let's just say that was a bit traumatizing.
For the most part he was fine in the ER. He didn't really act like he was in pain and basically just kept asking when he they were going to let them out of there. The only thing they gave him was one bag of saline IV drip...no pain meds at all. Every once in a while his arm still spasmed though. A woman from admissions came in to have him sign some papers and it started shaking so much that he could barely write. Other than that, he just lied there and complained about how long everything was taking.Both of these things are very difficult to deal with and have recently gotten worse. He's had very severe symptoms with the diabetes, including dizziness, weakness, weight loss, fatigue, being very cold, incontinence, etc. And with the Alzheimer's has come extreme forgetfulness, confusion (both of which are also symptoms of untreated diabetes, so that is compounded), stubborness, not trying to take care of himself at all...not even caring about his hygiene or shaving. He often repeats the same questions or topics over and over, sometimes within a five minute time span. I know it is not his fault but it can get so trying and upsetting. And I know some of it is, like I said, just plain stubbornness. My mom and I try so hard to explain to him what is going on but it's really fruitless because he won't remember it in the next day, much less within in few hours. My mom is his primary caregiver and I go over a few times a week to do shopping, take them to appoitnments, and I try to stay for a while but it's hard to be around. I feel so badly for my mom...she bears the brunt of all of this and it is really taking its toll on her, causing her great depression.
So that leads us to the most recent events. On the 3rd he and my mom were taking a walk down to a nearby store and he just fell for what seemed like no apparent reason. He didn't trip...my mom said he just went down hard on his right side. I think he probably got dizzy, but he doesn't know. He told my mom that he was okay, but by Wednesday the 4th he was doing really bad. He couldn't get up and walk anywhere on his own...to the bathroom (he could barely make it), to his room...he needed total assistance from my mom and a walker. He was crying out in pain when he had to get up and down. He tends to exaggerate a lot, but I think he was doing pretty bad. So we decided to call the doctor and he coudln't get in until Thursday the 6th. What an ordeal it was to get him there. We ended up having to get a neighbor to help us get him out to the car and he was moaning loudly the whole time. His arm also kept shaking on and off...almost like he was having muscle spasms. So We had to get him into my car, then out of my car and into the doctor's office, then back out again.
The doctor took x-rays of his back and his hand (the latter of which was very swollen), but everything came back fine. The doctor also had him get blood work. He was sent home with some pain meds and that was that. At about 8pm that evening I got a call from an on-call doctor telling me that I needed to get him to the ER because his blood work flagged...his blood glucose levels were dangerously high...560, and normal is 70-100. I don't even know how he was still alive. The doctor said they were going to put him on an insulin drip and he'd probably be there overnight. By then I was soooo tired that I felt very sleepy on the drive home.
The ER was PACKED when we got there, but luckily they took him back w/in 10-15 mins, I guess because of his condition and that a doctor had called it in. The triage nurse pricked his finger to get check his blood sugar levels and it just came spurting out. She said she'd never seen that happen before. I was like, "whoa!" I was about to say that seeing that doesn't bother me b/c of all the times my mom has been through blood tests and such, but I can't deal with seeing my own blood in a vial. Right before I started to say that I felt really dizzy and clammy and had to lie down. Luckily there was a bed right behind the area. I have no idea why that happened. Very weird. Then when they took him back to an ER bed I started feeling woozy again and one of the nurses gave me a cold washcloth and some ice water. ALL of the times I've gone through the ER and hospital with my mom and only a few times have I been affected like this, so it was really weird. I was able to relax after a while and I think part of it was just psyching myself out.
I stayed with him for about 3-4 hours while they ran different tests...mostly blood work and an MRI as he had because he a bruise on his head from the fall. During the wait he had to urinate several times...the nurse gave him a urinal bottle since he couldn't get up and then she took it and brought it back. The next few times I HAD TO HAND IT TO HIM MYSELF!!! He was saying, "I have to go now!" There were no nurses around that I could grab really quickly for help and it wasn't close enough for him to get it himself. I know they're busy, but they pretty much relied on me to do it. I grabbed latex gloves each time and then stood outside with the curtain drawn and of course washed my hands afterward. And he had to use the same bottle each time without it being emptied. I couldn't believe they weren't more attentive about that. I'M NOT A NURSE! Let's just say that was a bit traumatizing.
The MRI came back fine but his bloodwork was "very abnormal" and so the doctor had hadmitted him a bit after midnight on the 6th. We were going to go visit him the next day but I guess he got really agitated that night and they had to give him some meds to calm him down. The nurse said he was sleeping all day and was not up up to seeing any visitors. My mom and I saw him on Sunday and he was VERY disoriented and out of it. We also coudln't understand him at all...I had no idea why and it was really concerning me. On the way to the ER he was himself...speaking clearly, lucid, etc., and was also like that back in the ER bed. But we could'nt make out much of what he was saying at all. He sounded like his toungue was all swollen, but he said his throat was dry and hurt really bad. I know he hadn't been intubated...the only thing they did was give him the inuslin drip and meds, so it was very disconcerting. I could understand him being confused but sounding like he'd had a stroke or something was just weird. He got better as the days went by but it took a very long time until we could understand him...probably about four days or so.
Jeff and I went to visit him on the 11th and had a really good conversation with him. He seemed pretty much like himself and was easier to understand. He did repeat himself a few times and asked about going home (which he did a lot) but we had an actual conversation with him. He ended up being in the hospital for a total of about 5 days and in all that time I never got to talk to a doctor or got very good info. What I really wanted to know was what had happened to his voice and why he was acting so strangely. The day before he was released his blood sugar was down to 189. He was discharged to a physical rehabilitation/nursing facility on the 12th...6 days after he'd been admitted to the hospital, and that was an interesting and exhausting ordeal which I'll get into at another time.
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