Two weeks ago my 86 year old mother fell in her shower and was sent to the ER. She lives in an independent living complex. Fortunately she was able to pull the emergency cord in her bathroom for help. I met her in the ER where she was evaluated and discovered the compression fracture. After a pain pill, she was released with a back brace. I took her back to her apartment.
The following day I went by her apartment and she told me she saw my deceased father standing by her table in her living room. I figured the pain pills were causing her to hallucinate. I didn't think much of it. I figured the hallucinations would go away once she stopped taking the pain pills.
t planned to contact an orthopedic doctor to make an appointment for her after the weekend, but before I was able to do so, she wound up on the floor again and couldn't get back up. Off she went to the ER again. She was diagnosed with a UTI and dehydration. IMO she should have been tested for a UTI the first time she went into the hospital after her fall, but wasn't. Something caused her to fall, perhaps dizziness from the UTI. This time she was admitted to the hospital for observation. The hallucinations continued in the hospital. She wasn't on any antibiotics as the doctor was waiting on the urine culture to come back. My mother was seeing people who were not there and dogs going in and out of other patients' rooms. Nothing scary which I'm grateful for. Her most interesting hallucination was the little lady sleeping on the floor next to her bed who around 4:00 a.m. jumped up and ran out of her room. She said she must have been there to watch that she didn't try to leave. Maybe she was acting out in her mind what she really wanted to do! The urine culture came back negative. I was hoping it was positive and the cause of her hallucinations. Take some antibiotics and she'd be right as rain again.
After two days in hospital my mother was sent to a rehab hospital. She has been there a week and will leave to go to another rehab facility in a few days closer to my home. The hallucinations seemed to stop for a while in the rehab hospital, but the last two nights she has been acting strangely again so a urinalysis was ordered this morning. Again, I hope the urinalysis is positive and the cause of her strange behavior and can be easily rectified. But with the first culture test coming back negative, I doubt this test will be positive.
Ah, this is all new territory for me. Learning as I go, that's for sure. I have seen my mother rapidly decline since her fall. She only just moved to be closer to me (she lived 6 hours away up until the first of this summer) and I was hoping she would improve. Maybe it is just a bump in the road and she will bounce back. It's been quite an adventure to be sure.
My mother was given the Megace medication to enhance her appetite and today she ate everything at lunch. Now either the medication is a miracle drug and works almost instantaneously or the facility has a good cook. Either way, what a pleasant surprise today to hear. I told my friend visiting my mother with me (she had never met my mother before) that my mom is making out to be a liar!
A good day to be sure.
Tomorrow hopefully she will be a bit more settled in.
The case manager at the facility where my mom is now is talking to her doctor about giving her an appetite enhancer. I am hoping that will also help. She barely eats and drinks. I am going to make sure she has lemonade in the new place she is going to as she seems to like it and perhaps will drink it where she refuses to drink everything else. I'll supply the lemonade if I have to. Her current rehab hospital doesn't have lemonade and I didn't get myself organized to bring it in for her, but she'll be at the new rehab for a week or two still.
Yes, the dehydration was corrected.
Her retirement facility has caretakers that can be hired to assist residents, similar to an assisted living facility (or so I hope). I don't want to move my mother again. She only recently moved here. She was not very well when she moved here but I had hoped by my overseeing her health care that I would be able to help her communicate with her new doctors. I do believe her previous doctors were not treating her appropriately. I believe her new doctors are treating her appropriately. What has happened recently may have been going to happen whether she had her fall or not. It may be the dementia progressing, but I really hope it is a lesser evil such as a UTI. Will know tomorrow one way or the other.
How long has Mom displayed dementia symptoms? (Which might be longer ago than when she was first diagnosed.) I take it the dementia was very mild, since she is in an independent living facility. Does this place have additional levels of care available?
Dementia progresses. It is what it does. Hard to say whether the hallucinations are a "normal" part of the dementia or something else is going on. You are certainly doing the right thing by having it medically checked out.
When you moved Mom nearer to you, what kind of doctor did you select for PCP? Does she see a geriatrician? Is she being followed by a dementia specialist?
Do keep in touch here, and let us know how this works out.