Unbelievable

by Gina
(Illinois)

Mother was the most active 86 yr old you could find. She did her own housework, finances, etc. We liked to go out shopping together.

She had a checkup in Dec & all was well. Then on Jan. 12, she tried to move the couch. She injured her back. I took her to the ER, where she was given Ibuprofen. Then she switched to Tylenol, which did not help. She took more Ibuprofen.

On Jan. 26, we were going out to get haircuts when she became very weak. She had a GI bleed.

She had an EGD & was admitted to hospital. On Jan. 28, she suffered a TIA & went to ICU. She had a heart attack. She couldn't be weaned off the amio drip, & stayed in ICU for 6 days.

She stayed in hosp 2 weeks, became deconditioned. I took her home Feb.8, but she was so weak, I called 911 the next day. Back to hospital.

The social worker sold us on a nursing home with so-called great physical therapy. Mother was transferred there. Horrible place. One night she tried to get up herself, slipped, fell on her head.

Back to hospital. CT scan was OK. Then another nursing home. PT was better, but little progress was made. One day she looked bad, & I feared the worst. Later she claimed a nurse was mean & pushed her. 2 days later, she cut her arm with a knife.

Back to hospital. Then back to the same nursing home. Mother became more confused, after all this. I also tried to harm myself. I went outside on a bitter cold night & lay in the snow, but I couldn't go thru with it. Then the nursing home accused me of threatening Mother. I said, are you from another planet?

Mother came home March 8. She looked better, but is weak, sleeps a lot, doesn't want to do physical therapy. She has hallucinations at night.

I am not sleeping. I cannot believe how everything got so bad so fast.