It Started At Midnight...

My day started at precisely 12:00am. Yes, just like everybody else's day but with one small exception: a phone call from the nursing home.

I had been asleep for maybe 30 minutes. I had been so tired (a good kind of tired) and went to bed earlier but couldn't quite drift off. The phone rings. Don't you just love that electrical current feeling that runs up and down your spine when your phone rings at midnight? Especially when it has to be a problem/emergency? The adrenaline spikes, your mind races and your hand is already reaching for the phone before your mind makes sense of what is happening. It is amazing how the body can react faster than the mind.

The phone call could have been worse. It could have been The Call. The Dreaded Call that no one wants to get because there will be no reason to run to the nursing home anymore once The Dreaded Call is made to the family.

Mr Busybody (aka granddaddy) decided that he needed to use the bathroom. Nevermind the fact that his brain didn't tell his body that he doesn't have any sense of balance and that walking unassisted is a no-no. He tried to go anyway. According to the nurse last night, he fell and whacked his head on the tile floor. Let's see here...hmmmmm..... what happens when you add alzheimers and a head injury together? Groundwork for more brain damage? Yes, you win!!

By the time I was called, they had checked him out, called the doctor-on-call, and put him back to bed where he was 'resting comfortably'. The d-o-c said to have him checked by the Physician's Assistant in the morning.

I called this morning about 7:30. According to another nurse, he was already up, sitting in front of the nurses station and being Mr Busybody once again except for the bandage on the back of his head. His vitals were still good.

I wrestled with myself last night when the nurse called as to whether I should go over there and check him myself. The nurse seemed like she was ok with his condition so I made up my mind to go over later today to check on him. I thought if I went last night, it would only serve to rile him further.

....

Onto the morning.... I try to get up about 5:00 every morning. It doesn't always happen but I try. I like to give myself time to wake up before I get the kids started for school. This morning was one of those mornings when it didn't happen. Running 30 minutes late, I ran around, trying to get everybody going. I had so much to do. One of those things included an appt with the beautician for grandmama and me. We both needed the hair cuts.

Grandmama had been complaining of light-headedness (or being swimmy-headed as she calls it). Since she doesn't have perfect balance to begin with, this is not a good thing. This had been going on (to my knowledge) for a few days. According to grandmama, it came and went. I thought to give it a day or two to see if it was something viral because she mentioned nausea as well. I checked her blood pressure and pulse (while sitting but not standing ... duh on me!) and they were fine. Her pulse is always screwy because she is in constant a-fib but the bp was good.

This morning, after telling her about granddaddy, she mentioned that she was light-headed and dizzy again. I told her that I would call the doctor. The doctor's office agreed to see her at 10:00am, the same time as our hair appt. Of course, this is way more important so I rescheduled the hair appt.

We made it on time and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, we saw the doctor. She is a really nice lady and seems to be a very competent general practioner. Before the dr came in, the nurse was going over all of grandmama's meds. Grandmama is nodding her head yes to all of the med the nurse said she had listed as taking. I'm nodding my head no. We had to go over the meds several times to get them right. The dr comes in after that and grandmama proceeds to tell her about her light-headedness and nausea.

Then..... grandmama drops the bomb on me. She starts telling the doctor how she 'sort of' fell a few days ago onto the arm of her recliner, that her face has been going numb and that she had blurred and double vision on Sunday while watching the race!! If I had known all of this, she'd have seen a doctor days ago! Even the doctor scolded grandmama, telling her that if she wanted me to help her, she had to keep me updated on *everything*, even if she broke a nail (well, you get what I'm saying). The nurse came back in and took her blood pressure sitting, standing and laying down. There was a significant difference. Ok so the doctor starts to tweak her heart medicine (which will cause this if taking too much). The doctor asks if she has been having some bouts of confusion. Grandmama says no, I say yes and give examples (days, times, with whom). Grandmama shoots me the beady eye but I don't care, I'm still ticked off that she was keeping secrets about her health from me, knowing that I take care of her almost 24/7. Doctor takes a urine sample and determines that she has a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). This will most definitely cause nausea and confusion in the elderly. I learned this a long time ago with my dad when he got cranky, that would be the first thing they checked.

The doctor ordered a blood count as well. She said if this (the antibiotics for the UTI and the heart med tweak) doesn't work, she'd be going for a CAT scan to check for Trans Ischemic Attacks (TIAs are mini-strokes). I'm hoping the new med scheme will take care of this. I can't imagine (well, anything is possible) that it would be TIAs because her PT was 4.5 (meaning her blood was too thin...goal is between 2 and 3) last time. I know that even though her blood is thin, clots can still break off of deposits that have built up over time in the arteries/veins.

To top all of this off, I had picked up a brand new bottle of her heart med yesterday which she now cannot use. $54+ wasted. The pharmacy, who has been wonderful to us, asked if we had opened the bottle. I started to say yes (because she told me had to see the pills) and she jumped in and said no. The pharmacist said they would take back the pills (and get rid of them) and credit her the money since she was such a good customer. They have been really good to us like I said and I couldn't do this to them. I called back later when I got home and told (and apologized) the pharmacist that I wouldn't be bringing the meds back and why. He understood and said he appreciated it.

....

Since grandmama was doing her light-headedness/dizzy routine, I was reluctant to go far from her in case she fell. She has a walker but all but refuses to use it. I insisted today, not that she will listen. I swear, sometimes I think she has a wish to be in a nursing home, trying to recover from a broken hip from a fall. Anyway, I asked my mother, who works as the evening receptionist to physcially check on granddaddy, to actually go and see him for herself so I would know how he was doing. Why don't I learn? Why do I always think that she will actually go and do anything I ask her to do? I called her only for her to tell me that granddaddy's cna said he was fine. I discovered that she didn't actually 'see' him because she couldn't tell me what kind of bandage was used. I was getting quite upset with her. She promised to see him before she left. I just don't see it happening. I'll be over there tomorrow to see for myself.

Before I go on a rant about my mother and her lack of caring, I think I'll end this post. I'll just rant about her another day.

....