My trip to hell

Paris20

I just spent a week visiting my 99 year old mother who suffers from anxiety,depression, and a condition called post hospital delirium after a week in what she calls a snake pit. The experience has left my mother with brain fog, memory loss, and panic about the fact this could be permanent. That was the easy part of the trip.

The hard part of the trip was that my husband, who is heading for the endnotes part of mid-stage Alzheimer’s, was with me. He never knew where he was or where we were going. He asked for the dog each day. She is at the kennel. He could not find his way from our room to the bathroom so he woke me up three times a night to take him. Then I waited for 20 minutes while he did I-don’t-know-what so that I could take him back to our room. I got 2-3 hours of sleep per night. I am exhausted. The good news is he had only one accident on each end (1 and 2) but I packed like an incontinence supply salesman so I was prepared and no harm was done.

In a few hours I’ll be able to pick up my dog, whose cancer has returned. She has six months. How long can this all go on? 

Quilting brings calm

I don’t want to add to your stress and misery…. But our trip to hell with my Mom  started  with her being diagnosed  with delirium after they sold their camper and moved into what was laughably called an independent living apartment. She’d had a stroke about 18 months before that but was functioning ok until either just before or after the move.  Hard to tell from 12 hours away.  The trip into what appeared to be stage 6 dementia  took a few more weeks. During which the ‘doctors’ refused to admit she had a UTI.  The hospital that we brought her to in our home state has that diagnosed in an hour.  

So keep monitoring her care as best you can. 

As for how long this hell will last..:. Too long for most of us. Too short for some.  In my case, I’d willingly  accept mom going tomorrow since she wants that. 

Ed1937

Paris, I'm sorry. And then you have the dog on top of everything else. I hope you can find a way to get some rest.

abc123

I’m sorry about all of this. I can only imagine the stress you are under. I’m especially sorry about your dog. My dogs are my emotional support system and I had to leave them behind with a house sitter for three weeks. I hope life will become easier for you very soon. Hang in there.

nancyj194

Paris, I am so sorry about your dog. Ours had cancer, also. We tried chemo, but it only made her worse.  We lost her on 7/7/21. She was my cushion and I miss her terribly every day.

My husband grew increasingly short with her as she grew sicker,  so she stayed away from him. 

That's always good news when your husband only had one incontinence accident! Hopefully you have been able to catch up on your missed sleep.