It seemed to happen so suddenly. One day things were bearable . . . the next day they weren't. That was Thanksgiving. I went to Mom and Dad's to begin cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Letting myself in through the back door, Mom called from the bathroom and asked me to see if I could wake Dad up. He had fallen asleep in his chair at the breakfast table in the kitchen. I shook him gently and he seemed to rouse. I said, "Come on, Dad, let's go get in your chair in the living room." He seemed very disoriented and when I tried to help him stand, it was like he couldn't remember how to walk. He would move his foot up and back a few inches without going anywhere. I sat him back down and went to the living room to get Mom's walker. With the help of the walker, I finally got him into the living room and into his recliner. He fell asleep and slept the entire time I was preparing dinner. He woke and made his way with the help of the walker and my son, Todd, into the kitchen for dinner. After dinner it was back to the living room and his chair, where he immediately fell back asleep.
For the next couple of days, he seemed to improve a little. Then on Sunday, I called Mom on my way to church. She said he had awakened her at 3 AM and was very disoriented, talking incoherently. I went down after church to see what I could do to help. I talked him into letting me help him take a shower and then did a little housework. After being there a couple of hours, I didn't see anything else I could do to help, so I met my daughter and her husband for lunch. A short while later, I received a call from a family member who had spoken with Mom and was concerned about Dad. So I went back to check on things. Dad had been awake all day (since 3 AM) and was talking almost non-stop but not making any sense. Mom later said he told her she wasn't his wife and he couldn't sleep with her because "people would talk". She said she couldn't get him to go to bed until around Midnight.
The next day, Monday, Mom had dialysis as usual. I told her I would stay with Dad because she was worried about him. My brother Chuck picked her up for dialysis and I told her that I was going to call the doctor and, depending on what he said, Dad may be going to the hospital. At this point, about 11:30 AM, he was still asleep. I finally got him to wake up at 1 PM and got him to the bathroom by supporting him from behind and walking him into the bathroom. He peed all over the bathroom floor and himself. I sat him down in a chair right outside the bathroom door and took him pajamas off. I put a Depends diaper on him and washed his feet. Then I dressed him and, with the help of the walker, got him into the kitchen for breakfast. After feeding him his breakfast, it seemed to exhaust him to walk with the walker's help into the living room, where he collapsed in his chair and fell asleep immediately. I called the doctor and was told that he need to be seen in the ER. It was 3 PM by this time and Chuck had come back down to help me decide what to do. We called the ambulance and had him taken to St. Francis.
All kinds of tests were run . . . blood work, EKGs, CAT scans, but everything seemed fairly normal, except his blood pressure was very low and the CAT scan showed atropy in his brain, which is consistent with Alzheimer's Disease. He was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed until Friday. On Friday, 11/30, he was transported to Sunbridge in Dunbar, a nursing home.
It is now Tuesday PM, and I am amazed at how well he is adapting. He is quickly becoming a favorite at the nursing home. He is in physical therapy 5 times a week for the first four weeks, and they are trying to teach him how to walk again. I had a meeting today with the staff and they are pleased at how he is participating. He played "basketball" with waste paper and an inflatable hoop on Saturday, and yesterday came in 2nd in the Spelling Bee. He has an insatiable appetite and is eating everything they bring him. He greatly enjoys Mom's visits and seems to think he's at home most of the time. Yesterday evening he was asleep after physical therapy when I went in to see him and when I told him not to get up, he said "Is Mommy up yet?" Today when Mom and I were leaving, he said "How are we going to get home?" I told him he was staying there until he got better and he said, "Oh, that's right, I forgot." Of course, Mom misses him terribly, but he is much safer and I think improving with the interaction and stimulation of being around other people.
I'll write more later.
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