Another very long day…

The day started out beautifully. Warm 54 degree February weather. The sun shining and the ice melting. I was putting my laundry together to wash and looking forward to a calm and productive day. I could hear my mom walking into our living room and then I heard her voice and knew something was wrong.

She had lost control of her bowels while in her living room and she had tried to clean it up with the clothes she was wearing at the time.(Her night clothes)

This is the second time this has happened. The last time she had taken extra stool softeners because she was constipated. This time she says she hadn’t taken anything. It just happened.

She was calm, but obviously upset. All I could say was it would be okay and I would get it cleaned up. I told her she needed to get a shower. She thought she had cleaned herself up enough, but I insisted she take a shower. She said she couldn’t because her dirty clothes were in the tub. So I got some gloves and a plastic bag and got her clothes and put them to soak in the washer.

Dad woke up (in this case he is lucky he can’t smell much anymore) and I told him what happened. Mom got out some clean clothes and went in to take her shower. Mom told me she wanted to get some “diapers” so she wouldn’t have to worry about having this happen again.

My husband got down the SpotBot  and I got to work. Mom had her bedroom door closed. I peaked in to see if I could see any spots on the floor there. She had her bathroom door open and the shower running so I closed the door and planned on checking later.

Some time passed and all of a sudden I heard Dad yelling that Mom had fallen. I went into the bathroom and she was sitting on the floor in her bra and panties. She said she had fallen off of the toilet and hit her head and arm.

My DH had to come I and help me get her up and we got her walker. I called her doctor and they wanted her to go to the ER since she hit her head.

Dad wanted me to call an ambulance in case something was going on that we weren’t aware of. He was afraid if I tried to driver her she might get worse. So, we made the trip in the ambulance.

The ER was VERY busy and Mom was put in a bed in the hallway. I’m pretty sure in the ambulance the EMT did the basic tests for stroke and took her vitals etc. In the hallway, they took her BP (206/89) temp and put the Pulse Oximeter on. Her readings were in the high 60’s- right around 68. At one point it got up to 80, but quickly went down. Her Oxygen levels were above 95.

Of course we had to wait a long time, because of how busy they were. That’s when Mom told me I need to make an appointment for her with Pam to get her hair done! What??? She decided that her hair didn’t look good. Of course she hadn’t even had a chance to comb it that day. I’m not calling Pam!

The D.O. talked to Mom and tested her reflexes and looked at her arm.  Neither her nurse nor the D.O. seemed to understand what a cochlear implant was or that there was actually a magnet under Mom’s skin on her skull. Mom had said she hit that when she fell. The D.O. told Mom to put ice on her arm. Mom needed to use the bathroom and when she got up she was dizzy, so the D.O. wrote a prescription for Antivert. I was told it is a prescription med for vertigo or dizziness.

And then she was let go.

We got home about 2 pm and had lunch. Mom was really out of it by then. We insisted she use her walker and she got mad at Dad and I stepped in and told her Dad loves her and that is why he wants her to use it. She said she really didn’t think he loved her. When I said he did she calmly said, “Oh shut up.” I let it go and she used the walker.

I went to Pamida to get her prescription filled and to buy some Depends. The “prescription” turned out to be an over the counter med available OTC for the last 25 years (I was told) evidently its active ingredient is Meclizine- the same ingredient in Dramamine. I went ahead and got it.

I gave her a dose when I got home although she didn’t really want it. I’ll call Dr. P and see what she thinks about Mom taking it… And she said she can’t wear the Depends as they contain plastic and she is “allergic” to plastic. News to me. She said she would wear them if she needed them- and of course the AD keeps her from understanding there is no way to tell when she is going to need them.

She was quiet throughout dinner that night and when I got home from a meeting that evening Dad came to me and asked me to give Mom one of his pain pills. (Hydrocodone) I told him no. I’m not going to let them share pain meds! This was common practice when they lived by themselves, but I am DEFINITELY not comfortable with this.It’s illegal for one thing for me to give Mom Dad’s prescription pain meds and I have no idea how it would interact with all of the other meds Mom takes. Mom was not happy with me (again!) but some things I will not budge on.