Progression from hospitalizations?

clarinetist

My DH has been hospitalized repeatedly this summer for aggression/agitation. After each hospitalization he seems a little worse. He gets better, but not back to where he was.

Last Sunday he went from the Geri-psych unit to the ER and then a medical floor with aspiration pneumonia. The doctors say his pneumonia is improving, but he has been very drowsy all week. Wakes up to eat and then goes back to sleep. Today the nurses tried to get him to sit up and stand, but he was too weak to do so. Not sure if it’s the after effects of the pneumonia or if he has declined. They’re having PT come in.

I guess I’m wondering if a hospitalization can trigger that much of a decline?

M1

Oh definitely…..I'm so sorry. I can't imagine that he'll be able to cooperate much with PT. My partner wasn't.

clarinetist

Thanks, M1. I guess time will tell if he improves.

​fesk

I would think a combination of all could be impacting your husband. I do know in our case aspiration pneumonia took quite some time to recover from. It seemed to be one of the things that caused a decline and loss of skills.

PT has been helpful for us. They focus on functional exercises which she can do.

I'm sorry you are both going through this, and I wish you the best.

easy23

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/70943/progression-from-hospitalizations

My DH had aspiration pneumonia and it made him very weak and tired. He hardly ate. DH went to sub-acute rehab for PT after his hospitalization and he was back to his baseline in a couple of weeks.

clarinetist

Thanks, fesk and easy23, for your comments. This is his first time with aspiration pneumonia so I didn’t know what to expect. Rehab probably would be good but am not sure a rehab would take him right now because of his aggression.

jfkoc

What a long pull for both of you.

Some things to look at

how long was each hospital stay?

was each stay in geri-psych?

what drugs have been used?

what does your neurologist advise?

clarinetist

Thanks, jfkoc. Most of his stays have been in Geri-psychs, and they have ranged from 2 weeks to 6 weeks long. They’ve tried many drugs, and thanks to some great advice from a poster here, I have a spreadsheet of each drug and the dosage. My DH doesn’t have a neurologist, but does have a geriatric psychiatric PA who prescribes his psych meds. During this latest medical hospitalization, the hospitalist paused some of his meds as he felt perhaps the various drugs were interfering with each other. I’m anxious to see if that helps, but my DH has been so sleepy I can’t tell yet.

ImMaggieMae

He might be sleepy from all the drugs or the combination of them. The pneumonia probably took a toll too. Hospital delirium is a thing too. It may take him a while to (hopefully) recover from all those things. It’s probably going to be a balancing act to keep the aggression at bay without making him too groggy.

My DH had PT with home care a couple of times after ER visits. It was helpful, but only if I went through the exercises with him in the following days. He barely remembered. He particularly liked one of the therapists and followed her directions well. She gave me a lot of good ideas too. With Home Health under Medicare we only got a few weeks, twice a week. I would have hired her myself if they weren’t so expensive. The other Home Health things like the nurse’s visits were less helpful since they just took BP, oxygen levels, temperature, etc. These are all things I do at home.

clarinetist

Thanks, MaggieMae. If he gets PT I’m going to learn the exercises so I can do them with him. Like your DH, my husband will forget them. My DH does still like to exercise and is willing to do some arm exercises in bed, though he’s weak.