Living with Mom–The Fall

Originally published February15, 2018

From January 30th at 1:39 AM
Today while I was at work Mom took a spill. She was not home alone. She tripped over her own slippers. She broke her left Femur and her left wrist. She is also complaining of neck pain but we need to wait until morning for a full MRI. They also need to wait for the orthopedic surgeon in the morning before they proceed with setting her leg or arm. She may need surgery again. Sorry for the super late update everyone, it has been a horrendous night to say the least. Rest assured she is not alone.

Today is February 15th
It has been a long couple of weeks
I got the call while on my way home from work. As anyone who has cared for an older person knows, this can be one of the worse phone calls you ever get.
She was in the hospital for 2 weeks. It took 3 days before she could have surgery and get the leg and arm set.After surgery she spent 3 days in Surgical Trauma, where things really looked bleak for a bit, she kept on saying she was going to die. I was scared to death and worried sick, that she WAS going to pass. On the fourth day they moved her to a step-down unit, where she spent most of the time for the next 5 days sleeping and lethargic. She finally started to come around last weekend, talking and joking, and just seemed to be almost back at her baseline. Two days ago they finally released Mom from the hospital, she was moved to a skilled nursing facility for Rahab once again. She is smiling and laughing at my stupid jokes, and silly face dances.

They removed the pins from the previous Hip surgery,she now has a steel rod in her leg, and a cast on her wrist. With the progression of the dementia, it is going to be much harder for her to follow simple instructions. Therefore making rehabilitation a much longer process. We are hopeful and positive though. On the brighter side of things, she is already making friends there. She seems to be much more comfortable than she had been at the previous facility, which BTW refused to have her because we would not put into long-term care and chose to care for her at home. This new facility is clean, the staff is very friendly and it is much more home like. My apologies for the long break in posts, but it has been a long couple weeks.

 

EDIT: It became increasingly harder to write as this year went on

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