I wrote this about 3 or 4 weeks back but put it aside in a draft until I had some time to finish it.
I'm sitting in the waiting room at St. Michael's hospital again. I'm just not sure what to do any more. My family Dr says that mom is having Lacunar strokes. I didn't understand because I've seen her have strokes before and I don't see symptoms of them now. He told me that these types of strokes don't necessarily exhibit the regular stuff like a dipped lip or eye, a weak limb, slurred speech, etc. Kind of like "silent strokes". He said the only way to detect them is via a ct scan and I told him that she had a ct scan about 6 weeks back so since he works for St. Mike's he was able to bring it up. He said there was a comment on it that she had a lacunar stroke. He said she may be having more and that's why we are seeing the things we are seeing. She is very agitated at times. Downright combative. She's never been like that in her life, it's the complete opposite of what my mom is. She is a sweet little thing, always has been so this is very weird and difficult to understand. She has these times when she's completely normal then all of a sudden, like a light going off.. she just shuts down. Stops talking completely. It's like she's looking right through you. It's bizarre. Times she will not be able to find the words she wants. She uses the wrong words or something that isn't even a word.
Today she was agitated. This morning she would not let the psw at the nursing home get her into her wheelchair. She was very suspect of Michael even though she knows him well. He's always there every weekend she goes on the Friday we take her in. She adores Mike so her remarks to him this morning were really out of character. He explained to her that he was putting her in the chair so she could go home and her disposition changed completely and she allowed him to move her and put her coat on, etc.
At home she seemed to settle down some and drank a bit of her liquid diet. When her afternoon psw came at 12:30 I had to go out for a bit and before I did I told her Christina would change her and give her her medications. She said ok when I told her where I was going and that I would be back soon. Next thing you know though, about 10 minutes after I left Christina called me to tell me mom wouldn't let her change her at all. I had her put mom on the phone and I told her Christina had to do her job and change her and she should let her do it. She said ok and I found out later after a bit more debate she finally let Christina do it.
I got home at 2:30, my caregiver relief left at 3. Mom was ok until about 5:00 or so. That's when I heard her bed squeak and I went in and checked her and there she was with both legs somewhat over the railing on her bed! I asked her what she was doing but she just looked at me looking confused and said something that didn't make sense. I moved her legs back on the bed and told her she had to get herself back up the bed which she did. I told her I was going to have a nap and she should have one too. She said ok again and I left her room. Next thing you know, I hear her bed squeak yet again. I go back in and again she's trying to get out of the bed. I tell her to get up the other end again and I wanted her to have a nap. That I was going to nap and wanted her to as well. She agreed. I should have known that was too easy. I laid down for a few minutes but thought better of trying to have a nap so instead I went into the kitchen to do a few dishes. After a few minutes I went in to peek on her again and omg... I almost shit. There she was, at the top of the bed. I don't know how to explain this...
She has a hospital type bed. So there obviously are railings that we must keep up all the time. Her bed is at a height for everyone that works with her. Easier on everyone's back. So the top portion of the bed has no rail because that part is for her head and shoulders... then there is the railing but with this particular bed the railing isn't all that long so I purchased ones that slip under the mattress and those are suppose to stay in place due to the weight of the mattress. Not so but they work somewhat. Anyway, the head of the bed is up some because she needs it up all the time due to her back. And there she is.. I swear I wish I had a picture because I'll live with the sight of her the rest of my life. She's got herself slid out of the bed between the raised top and the beginning of the railing. She is literally holding herself almost straight as a board. Her feet are but a few inches off the floor! Almost like a gymnast. It was unbelievable. I had to lift her and move her backwards back onto the bed. I told her to please stay there! Have a nap! I stayed for a bit and she seemed calmer again so I went to finish my dishes. A few minutes later, I swear.. not 5 minutes went by I finished the dishes and I went back into her room and there she was... on the floor ! Sitting on her bum about half way down the bed on the floor.
At this point she's very agitated again and I'm telling her I have to call an ambulance because she fell and she starts yelling at me she doesn't care and starts to scootch herself down the bedroom floor on her bum. I quite honestly don't know where she gets this strength. I don't get it. I had her weighed just yesterday and she's down to 39.4 k's... about 87 lbs and she has the strength of a full grown healthy man. I didn't want her to hurt herself.
So I shut her bedroom door and she started to scream at me :-( I called 911. I didn't know what the hell else to do at this point. By the time the ambulance got here she was full blown delirious and wasn't making much sense. The police came with them. This isn't the first time. Turns out that if someone is unstable they will send the police too because they (paramedics) don't have the power to force someone to go to the hospital however the police do so at times they call the police to attend if they think someone needs to go but won't. And this is the case for my mom these days.
To make a long story shorter... turns out a lot of this behaviour was due to another bladder infection but somehow in all this they lost her OHIP and her hospital card. I called the hospital patient advocacy the next morning (I got her home @ 2:30 am after a very strong dose of antibiotics via i.v.) and told them what happened. They finally called me back the next day. Turned out the paramedic had it!! over 2 weeks later the supervisor showed up at my door at 10:30 pm with the cards. Thankfully. That OHIP was a nightmare to replace since she can't go get her picture taken.
Update: It turned out one of the paramedics put her OHIP in his pocket and it went home with him. Several weeks later his boss got it and brought it back to me with an apology. I was happy to see it, I really didn't want the extra work of getting her a new card and all that goes with it.
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