This is Alzheimer's awareness month.....what does that mean to you? To a family deep in an Alzheimer's journey, it means there is never enough publicity for this awful disease. It seems that no one cares....there is funding for cancer, ALS, and many other diseases but Alzheimer's is for old people why fund it?...WRONG! There are many 50 something's and even 30 and 40 something's being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. AND THERE IS NOTHING TO STOP THIS DISEASE....there is no prevention, no cure and drugs only slow it down for a little while. Some people have success with drugs or a combo of drugs and with some people there is no way to slow down the tidal wave of the disease.
Recently, mom fell and hit her head while brushing her teeth....she just stumbled and fell. The assisted living facility has a rule, if they hit their head they must go to the hospital to be checked out. She did have a nasty lump on the back of her head and she did complain that her neck hurt, so off we went. HOWEVER a hospital is the worst place a patient with Alzheimer's can go. It literally throws most of them into a tail spin, mom got there and at first she was a model patient. My sister drew the short straw to stay overnight with her, my brother had to go to work the next morning and my husband is still recovering from a broken hip. I told Nancy I would be there to relieve her in the morning. They took mom for an xray and a CT scan and then tried to put a collar on her to stablize her neck. That was not going to happen....she fought the nurses and they decided to not force the issue. They came back to put in a catheter and that turned into a raging nightmare my sister wishes she could forget. They never got in the catheter. They did admit her to the hospital for observation. Because mom had gotten so upset over what the doctors and nurses were trying to do for her, she was keyed up and could not sleep. My sister had little if any sleep that night because mom was talking so much. When I got there in the morning she relayed what had happened overnight. When Nancy left, it started! She was so out of her normal routine and had no idea who I was or why people were trying to check her temp, her blood pressure, draw blood, look at her head to check the lump it was awful. They needed to put in an IV for fluids, that lasted about 15 minutes. She kept bending her arm setting off alarms so I finally asked them to remove it. Just bring me some water and I would get her to drink something. They promised a doctor would be around later in the day to dismiss her if all tests provided negative. Mom fought me tooth and nail over drinking water, she slapped my hand and soaked her hospital gown....they she started yelling that I had slapped her. She would not lay down in the bed but sat upright in the most uncomfortable hospital chair all day long. She paced the room and tried to go out the door but I would stop her and guide her back to the chair. She would want the door open, then she would want it closed, she thought the people in the hall were talking about her. At lunch she would not eat....she said they were trying to poison her. I ate some of her lunch and she told me in a very serious voice that I was going to die. A cardiologist tried to listen to her heart, she would have none of that. They ordered an echo and I told the nice tech she would not let anyone listen to her heart she certainly was not going to let him do his echo. I had my ipad with me and tried to get some gospel music on hoping that would help calm her. She grabbed it out of my hands and attempted to throw it across the room but I did rescue it and got on the music. Thankfully she started singing and did calm down, the nurse came in and asked her to get in bed and she finally agreed to get in the bed. The music lulled her to sleep for about 30 minutes. Then it started all over, the doctor fianlly came in for rounds about 5pm and by this time I was exhausted both physically and mentally. She wanted to keep her overnight again so they could check her pacemaker in the morning and be sure that was not the cause for her fall. She told the doctor that I was a mean cousin and had been so mean to her all day. The doctor told mom I will make sure she leaves....the doctor took me out in the hall and said she knew that I was her daughter and asked me if she had ever had these type of episodes before. I said once about 2 years ago when she was first diagnosed. I told her I knew it was the disease talking and not my mom. The doctor went back inside and told mom the cousin had left but that her daughter was her now, I went back in the room and mom said in the sweetest voice I am so glad to see you....can you take me home. She had turned into the mom I knew....the doctor did agree to get the pacemaker checked that evening and then we could go home. There is a book on Alzherimer's The 36 hour day, and I had just experienced it in the 10 hours I was at the hospital. All the tests were negative and mom was sent back to the assisted living facility that evening. She had a rough night sleeping that night because she had been running full steam ahead for 24 hours.
It is so hard to see your loved one so out of control and there is nothing you can do to stop the hurricane brewing inside of them. I pray that God is merciful and gracious with my mom as this disease progresses. It is never going to be any better and will continue to get worse. For those of you who do not have a loved one with Alzheimer's thank God every day. If you do have someone who is effected by this disease thank God for the good times you remember with them that they can no longer remember. It is a long journey and we just take it one day at a time. Thank you God for my mom and dad who raised me and my siblings in a loving Christian home. Mom sometimes does not recognize me but that is ok...I know who she is and love her dearly. Love, Diane
