Recovery of very elderly LO from broken hip

CaliforniaGirl-1

I would like to hear from other people and what their experiences have been.

My extremely elderly LO is in a MC. She was doing well for the instant. I knew there would continue to be ups and downs. She is supposed to use a walker and of course sometimes resisted. Anyway she fell in her room. Probably getting out of bed. Something she had done hundreds of times with no problem.

She had a badly fractured hip and had surgery. We debated whether it was worth putting her through the surgery and recovery at her advanced age and condition. But the alternative would have been staying in bed and risking the fracture getting worse and there was no way she would have understood why she couldn't walk. So risks either way, But she is energetic and mobile and we knew what she would choose.

She has been recovering in a skilled nursing facility and is doing rehab. But all of these transitions have been rough. The rehab has been great. But she needs constant supervision to stop her from trying to walk around. She doesn't remember the accident, the surgery or why she is there.

Has anyone been through a badly broken hip with an elderly LO with dementia? How much mobility did they actually recover?

I am worried her readapting to the MC. I am worried about whether care level costs will sky rocket. I am worried about whether this is the inevitable first of other debilitating falls. I am just worried (and tired).

Anyone who can share their experiences would be welcome.

M1

So sorry you are facing this. No personal experience but i know there are others who have been through similar things-keeping her from walking unassisted is going to be the ongoing issue for sure. I fear it for my partner too as she will absolutely not use a walker.

Do you have hospice on board? May be time to consider it if she is going to be nonambulatory.

Keep us posted how she does.

harshedbuzz

I know 2 people who dealt with this.

My friend's mom was 93 when she broke a hip and had surgery/rehab for it. She'd been living in the IL section of a CCRC, so she went to the rehab there after the surgery. She likely was in the earlier stages of dementia when she had the fall and her CT scan did show some evidence of VD that wasn't shared with my friend at the time. Mom had taken a hard right turn in the previous few years-- the woman who did 2 years in Peace Corps after retirement working to vaccinate children in India was suddenly an anti-vaxxer-- at this point her personality was different, but she was mostly managing her IADLs. She recovered nicely from her fracture and surgery and was able to return to her cottage and was even cleared to drive and travel domestically but it took her a good 2 years to return to her previous physical state. Then COVID hit and her community restricted comings and goings even of those in their own units. During lockdowns, her dementia seemed to get worse as she was showing signs of confabulations and paranoia as well as unusual spending-- she bought a baby grand piano and a head full of dental implants that did nothing but cause her pain. Travel was a hobby, before COVID she led tours groups for older travelers and spent her 90th birthday in Antarctica. She was itching to go somewhere and signed up for a bus trip to Scranton of all places. She caught COVID and passed out in her unit. Another CT scan was done because of the fall, and it showed significant changes since the one a few years earlier. Mom didn't make it; my friend was sad but relieved she never had to place her mom in a more restrictive setting.

My aunt, then 92, broke her hip/wrist in the mid-stages. She was too confused to participate in PT and her memory was too impaired to recall the restrictions around walking and keeping her soft cast on. The SNF where she lived required her daughter to provide private 24/7 sitters to keep mom in bed while she healed. Post-surgery, mom skipped ahead from a stage 5ish to a stage 7 and passed within about 3 months.

HB

Cricket29

My then-90yo father with undiagnosed dementia fell and broke his hip last October. After hospitalization, surgery and subsequently moving to a SNF, we discovered how difficult it can be when the facility doesn't have the staff to help or keep tabs on a LO who doesn't remember that he's not allowed to just get up any time he wants. (He also didn't remember falling, having surgery or where he was and why.) Our family ended up taking turns staying with him at the SNF about 14-15 hours a day for 6 weeks to keep him from trying to get out of bed. Eventually we hired private aides to come for the evenings to help so we could leave for some much-needed rest.

It was definitely a challenge. The aides helped to give us some peace of mind in leaving him.

My father has recovered his ability to walk but now uses a walker. For a while at the SNF, he was even stronger than he had been before his fall. But now that he has returned home, he has lost some of that strength as he is not moving around as much anymore.

Each stage of the recovery has its own set of worries, and it is exhausting to try to stay a step ahead of them all. One of my coworkers (an OT) reminded me that it isn't possible to prevent everything that may happen. We can only do so much. So do what you can, and don't allow yourself or anyone else to put unreasonable expectations on you.