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Monday, November 22, 2010

My mom has another (?) UTI

I've been spending more time than usual at the nursing home.  Two days ago, her wild and unbelievable stories changed from "unbelievable but making sense" to "rambling sentences that are not understandable".  I was alarmed, to say the least, and requested that they check to see if the UTI was really gone or not.  The results came back positive for another UTI, so she's back on antibiotics.  The day before yesterday, she refused all food and water and slept ALL day.  The aides said it was difficult to wake her up, and I found that to be true.  Then yesterday, she woke up, was mostly back to talking about how she was going to be hanged for killing 600 people.  I never thought I'd ever be happy to hear that, LOL!

The catch is, that she's very combative again.  She's convinced that "they" are trying to poison her and she won't eat or drink for them, or take her pills.  Luckily when I was there, I was able to get her to drink a little "Ensure-type" shake and take her pills, but she wouldn't do it for the aides and got so angry she hit a nurse(!).  She also wouldn't let them put on her nightgown and I was not able to help with that, she got angry with me, too.

So I don't know what to think.  Is this the beginning of the end?  Because I'm not ready.  I hope that today after work, she'll be better and I'll know that I/we've got more time left.  My mom's the only person I've ever known with Alzheimer's--I don't know how this works :-(

2 comments:

perphila said...

I hope the antibiotics help. I will be praying for your mom. I hope you have a good Thanksgiving in spite of everything going on.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry I have no experience to share on Alzheimer's, just what I've read or heard on TV; that, and I've lost my parents to cancer. I hope the antibiotics help; I can't imagine the pain and heartbreak you are going through. You are doing the best you can, especially being alert enough to help spot her UTI, and being there to support her through the scary thoughts. I think you are a wonderful daughter. Take care of yourself, too.
- Daisy in AZ