Yesterday morning Kathryn started throwing up blood. I rushed her to the hospital and they have been doing test all day yesterday and today. What ever it is it is not Alzheimer's related. Has anybody experienced anything like this? I will be at the hospital until sometime tomorrow depending on what happens next.
I tend to think it could be the meds also. Try to take care of yourself and put it in God's capable hands. We will be praying for good results and comfort for Kathryn.
Could be so many things, Jim. Let the doctors due their thing, and we'll all do ours....keep you and Kathryn in our thoughts and prayers! Keep us posted!
Just home for a few minutes to get a bath and head back to the jospital. Kathryn is doing a little better today. Yesterday they injected her with somekind of die and did a three hour scan. She just made it thru it when she suddenly got out of the bed and removed her IV. She let them know she was going home and woukld not get back in the bed to return to her room. The called the head nurse who sent someone for me. When I got three she smiled, I have her a hug and asked her if she would like to go for a walk with me, held her hand and walked her back to her room. She looked at them and said "see Jimmie knows best". She had another test today for another three hours but they let me stay with her to keep her calm.
They believe she may have galstones and that is what maybe causing her to throwup. It doesn't explain the blood to me so I will wait for the doctor to come by and ask him if that could be the cause of the blood. They wwill be removing her galblader. They told me it is an easy in and out surgery. And they expect her to do good with it.
I did learn that Baptist here supplies a 24/7 sitter if the doctor orders one which hers did. But I stay there anyway. I dodn't want her to wake up when ever she sleeps and find herself in a strange place with strangers. The hospital has provided me a cot at no charge.
I have heard that a lot of the time after a stay in the hospital many Alzheimer's Pat. have a rapid decline. I am hoping to avoid it by always being there when she wakes up so she will not be so scared.
Don't worry about future decline, Anchor 20. Just do what has to be done. Rapid decline may not happen. As long as you can be there most of the time, your dw will most likely be stable. Been there, done that.
If she is having her gall bladder removed laproscopically, her recovery will not be bad. I had that procedure done a couple of years ago and there were no stitches and not much pain afterwards. I think the anesthesia might be harder on her than the actual surgery.
JimB, Do you know what type of anathesia Kathryn will be getting? I hope it isn't the kind that is inhaled because it can cause more problems. It happened to me and I don't have any type of dementia.
When my hb had Turp surgery, he was given a local; anesthesiologist said he didn't give general anes. to dementia patients unless absolutely necessary. Hope there are no problems and progress is made.
They removed Kathryn's gall bladder and she is doing great. We were lucky with the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist used to specialize in working with Alzheimer's pat. in Virginia. He came in and spent an hour with Kathryn and reassured her that there was nothing to worry about that he would not leave her side the entire time she was in surgery. He even walked her back to her room and stayed a short while to make sure she was doing ok. She is doing great and the entire nursing staff went out of their way to spend time with her when ever they could. They said she a pleasure to take care of. She never complained. They had her bed outfitted with a bed alarm and provided me with a cot no charge. Either me or her sister was with her at all times plus the hospital also provided a full time sitter. The only time they had to come to her room was when I left for a few minutes. Has soon as I was out of sight she would get out of bed to look for me.
Any time one of the nurses came in the room when they would leave she would start following them and I would have to reminder her to stay in the room.
What started out as a real scare turned out to be a good experience because of the great nursing staff and the doctors at baptist here in Jacksonville.
Thank you all for your input. It made it much easier to deal with.
So glad the surgery went well. Recovery should be smooth, too, because the hospital is providing such good care for a patient with dementia. "The hospital provides a sitter..." That is awesome!
Jim ,glad to hear it all went well and Kathryn is making a good recovery .What great nursing staff and doctors they are ,thank you for letting us know how Kathryn is
I am glad you had such a positive experience, not common for sure. Wonderful news about your Kathryn, I am glad it wasn't anything worse. whew! How much longer will she need to stay in the hospital? I hope you are getting some sleep on that cot.
Kathryn is home. She is still more confused but I think over the next few days that will change now that she is back in our home. She gets tired easier and is a little sore. The only other difference I can see is her apatite which was dropping before she went in the hospital seems to have gone down even more. I am hoping that the longer she is home that everything will return to where it was prior to her going to the hospital.
I have been having her take a couple of naps a day since we got home.
Thank you all for all you do here. It really helps,
Jim we know for a fact any changes out of the ordinary and out of their comfort zones, affects them. hopefully now she is back home she will have a better appetite.