Mom Failing

Pmatt

Hi everyone!  First post, although I have been reading many. My mother has Dimentia. She had been doing fine (other than her short term memory being nonexistent). She went to the hospital on 3/17 when we noticed her right side of her face drooping. They did a cat scan to rule out a stroke. Diagnosed her with Bells Palsy and sent her home with Prednisone and Valtrex. She did not tolerate the valtrex well. She walked out of the hospital on her own without assistance. Over the next few days her legs became very weak. On a follow up doctors appointment he suggested going back to the ER due to her weakness. We did, they admitted her for dehydration and more testing. She went to a nursing rehab center. After about a week, my dad felt he wanted her home and could give better care ( they have been married 62 years). So we did.  She required more and more care and too much for my dad even with our help. She then hadn’t had a BM for two weeks. We became concerned. Back to the ER. No blockage thankfully. She is now back at the rehab and will be moving to the Dimentia floor next week. She is frail, having lost 30 pounds in the past year. Lost all interest in food and weaker than ever. I can’t believe this is the same person that walked out of the hospital 3/17 on her own with no assistance. Is this common with Dimentia patients?   Such a sharp decline. Plus the guilt of no longer being able to care for her at home is awful. Especially for my dad. Such an awful disease. Thanks.

MN Chickadee

Did she have any more diagnostics or a neurological work up since the initial MCI diagnosis you mention in your bio? Are they leaning towards vascular dementia?  Sometimes that can be a plateau followed by sharp decline. Have they ruled out UTI and any other infection? If you think they have ruled out other causes it could be she just had that much of a decline in a month. Such a quick decline is not common but still possible. Are you trying sweet foods?  Many PWD develop a sweet tooth. A balanced diet doesn't matter now, so if you can interest her in things like ice cream go for it. Protein drinks like Ensure are often used in the later stages. Given how much weight she has lost she would likely be accepted to hospice. That would be an added layer of services to her and your family. If it seems like you can't get this ship turned around I would bring hospice in, having a relationship early is a good thing, hard as it is to accept. Try not to beat yourself up on not caring for her at home. Many of our LOs get to this point where we can't give them the care they need. It's not a personal failing, it's just how this disease goes. Making hard choices to get them the level of care they need is a loving thing to do. You are making sure she has the medical care she needs. There is much grief every step of the way on this journey, you aren't alone.

Pmatt

Thanks for the reply. UTI was ruled out. She had another catscan after she went back to the hospital for weakness. I should have mentioned in my post that she had a brain hemmorage 26 years ago which she fully recovered from. I know that a brain injury makes you more susceptible to Alzheimers/Dimentia. We started noticing memory issues about 7 years ago. It is just hard to wrap my head around. Her PCP said that having something like Bells Palsy (which she said was from the virus that causes shingles) can said can set dimentia patients back. Also we are feeding her whatever she would like. S She likes the ice cream so we give her a lot of that but she can’t survive on just ice cream. She will probably be moving to a dementia care unit one floor above from the rehab. Trying to take it one day at a time.