Feeling Blue

lostdaughter58

My Mom who my son and I have been taking care of since last year in our home was at the moderately severe stage. About ten days ago, she got sick suddenly. Within hours, she was locked inside our bathroom and having an issue. When we finally got the bathroom door open, we found her naked and more altered than normal, standing in water and feces(she flushed her pull up) and poop smeared everywhere all over the bathroom. I tried to get her out of the bathroom and she was unable to ambulate and too weak to stand. Suffice it to say, we ended up calling EMS to take her to the hospital. The hospital tested her for Covid and she was positive and she ended up being admitted to the hospital with Covid encephalopathy. Her heart rate was low (40s)and her oxygen was in the low(80s) when she got there and her fever was 102. She got three infusions of remdesevir and physically things turned around fairly quickly. She no longer requires oxygen and her heart rate has returned to normal.

What little bit of short term memory she had left appears to be gone. She was in the hospital for five days and during that time, we decided to discharge her to memory care for continued care. The whole incident happened so quickly and it really scared my son and I. I do feel like she will be safe where we placed her and she is in a very nice facility. I was lucky in that I already knew we should have a back up plan and we had toured many facilities in case the situation with her being at home became too much to for us to handle. I am now so glad we had our choice facility selected.

We got to talk to her today on the phone. She is still very confused beyond what her baseline was prior to getting ill. Her words are now very slurred. She is calling me Mommy and called my son by my name. She repeats the same questions over and over, back to back. What used to take 30 minutes or so to forget is forgotten as soon as it is spoken.

My son and I now are at home, without my Mom, and sick with Covid. We both are traumatized at how quickly things went south. At the same time, we agree we have reached the point that we are unable to safely handle her any longer in our home. Does anybody have any ideas on the chance of her getting back to her baseline or should I just prepare for her to slide into the last stage of Alzheimer's Disease? Feeling very blue tonight.

M1

So good that you had a backup plan and that she is in a safe place while you recover. I understand completely how worried you are about her while trying to cope with your own illness, i am in the same boat. Day at a time.

eaglemom

I am so glad that you had a backup plan. That shows all of us just how important that truly is to have in place.

Feeling blue and worried is very normal, even more so with Covid. You mom has had multiple changes in her life - locked in the bathroom trauma, hospital stay, and a new living environment. It will take her quite some time to adjust to all of these things. Plus, she may also have new medication? Of course I can't say for certain if she'll get back to her baseline, but given time to adjust to everything I would think you'd see her 'almost' there. That seems to be the case a lot of the time, but it can take months of adjustment on her part. You did the absolute correct thing in placing her.

I'm sorry for all that you and your son have gone through. Get through Covid and feel better. Please do come back and let us know how all of you are doing.

eagle

lostdaughter58

Thank you for responding. We will try to do our best to take one day at a time. I am not used to having nothing to take care of. I feel lost and quite frankly, I miss my Mom being here. We have always been best friends and close my entire life. I love her and its just so very hard to watch her have to go through this horrible process. She does not deserve this. I feel so guilty for all the times she annoyed me like when she followed me around like a lost little puppy. Now, I just wish she was here to mimic me and follow me.