My dad is having surgery for Colon Cancer next week. If they can do the surgery laparoscopically he will only be in the hospital 2-3 days. If they run into problems they will have to do open surgery and he would be in the hospital for 2 weeks or more. I have another dilemma .....my step mother also has dementia - more advanced than my dad. They both live in an Assisted Living facility. She wants to stay at the hospital with him and he wants her there too. They are codependent and my dad takes care of her more or less - basically he keeps her from getting lost. My dad said he wouldn't have the surgery unless she was able to stay with him. I told them I would make sure she was taken care of at assisted living even if we have to hire a service which will most likely be the case because they are understaffed at AL and she would need someone around overnight. I also told him if he didn't have the surgery he would die a painful death (doctor told him that too). And if they do open surgery he will be in there for 2 weeks or more and she can't stay there that long. She was a huge pain in the butt when I took her to his Colonoscopy (understatement). I was supposed to encourage my dad to drink his prep solution but had to walk her to the bathroom in the lobby area, which was far for her, when she needed to go. I had done that, brought her back to the room and she said she had to go again. Got half way down the hall and she didn't make it....luckily she wears a diaper because it was bad!! But I still had to hunt a fresh one down for her and get her taken care of and then get back to my dad. She was also going to follow him into the procedure room when they wheeled him away It's all so incredibly frustrating and they have no clue. The doctor told my dad and her that they would set up a bed for her and she could stay but he is utterly clueless on how bad she is although I called and talked to the nurse about it this morning. Just wondering if anyone has been through anything similar? One other issue, if I hire an outside source to help my step mother they will both be suspicious of whomever is in the apartment. They think staff at AL comes in and takes things as it is. Any advice? Thanks!
Mom goes to the hospital, kisses Dad good luck as he’s wheeled off to surgery. All good. Then someone takes Mom back home. Dad has his surgery, mission accomplished. He might be mad, but the deed is done.
I don't think it is at all appropriate for your step-mom to stay in your dad's room with him at the hospital. She'd be another patient and that doesn't seem like it would fly.
How old is your dad? How bad is his dementia?
I would lay down the law. No, stepmom can not come to the hospital with you. End of story.
Full time care will be secured to take care of her, as even if AL was fully staffed sounds like she is above and beyond their level of care. Hmm, maybe she should go in to a nursing home for 2 weeks for respite care while your dad is in the hospital?
It's common for people with dementia to think people are stealing from them.
If your dad doesn't get the surgery, how long do they give him to live? Is he willing to die over this? I can't imagine yes but who knows. Is he cognizant enough to make such a decision?
Good luck.
Colon cancer surgery is a big surgery. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst i.e. prepare for your dad to have complications. Get your father evaluated for home hospice. Your dad is never going to make it two weeks in hospital without getting more confused/delirious. The anesthesia alone will make his dementia worse. He may land in the ICU.
Step back and look at the big picture realistically. Hire whatever help step mom needs at home, and prepare yourself to stay with your dad in hospital. Most hospitals allow one person to stay with a patient overnight. That person absolutely should NOT be your step mother.
1 - Dad and Step-mom do not have a good plan for emergencies - especially when Dad is the one with the emergency.
2 - Step-mom is getting beyond the care of Dad and AL
3 - Dad is having a hard time realizing Step-mom's worsening condition.
4 - Dad may be having a hard time understanding the seriousness of his own condition.
All of these issues point to the fact that they may need to transition to more care by others.
Short term, you can have step-mom there for procedure and afterwards.
Please, please, PLEASE - as a RN - do not let step-mom stay overnight with dad. He won't be in a position to care for step-mom. Step-mom will not get a good night's sleep. She will most likely end up having meltdown: bad for dad, bad for staff, bad for family and bad for step-mom. I have seen it too many times.
See if family will take turns caring for step-mom while dad is in hospital. If you don't have enough volunteer helpers, then get paid help. Plan for the longer stay and be pleasantly surprised when/if it ends up a shorter stay.
When dad comes home, plan to have hired staff for about a week. Then, have a reassessment to see if step-mom and dad need to transition to more care.
Best wishes!
So, he does want the surgery and has moderate dementia - hopefully you and the doc also understand that anesthesia can result in regression of the dementia. Sometimes it reverts back to previous level, sometimes there may be only a little improvement. No way to know until after the fact, and it could take months. This can also impact his recovery (if he can't do or cope with the post-surgical care needed!) Hopefully this won't be the case.
Hiring someone to watch over her while he has surgery and is post-op will have to be done. Most AL is not set up to monitor/cater to someone with dementia, esp if they are prone to wandering. Hoping you can find the right people who can deal with dementia - it isn't as simple as just hiring an aide. They need to know how to best manage someone with dementia. If she is okay with you, perhaps you can stay with her or take her home with you for periods of the day, reducing the need for aides. Given that he will likely need more post-op care after he is discharged, you'll likely want to have the aides continue after he returns back to the AL. I don't envy you - this is a tough one!
Also, agreed that very often dementia results in suspicions and accusations of stealing. That was a subtle sign that I missed (our mother lived alone) as I wasn't aware of the signs at that time. I was perplexed as to why she would accuse my OB of stealing her tweezers when he came to visit/stay one time. Accusing another of stealing other stuff *could* have been real, but in retrospect it is more than likely she misplaced whatever it was she thought was taken! Certainly was true for the tweezers - I bought her another and when cleaning out her condo after move to MC, I found at least 3 in the bathroom and about 6 more in a dresser drawer!!!
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