Elderly mom with dementia fell and fractured hip (father)
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Thank you @silibran.
They didn't check her UTI the first day, but when I kept on calling through the night, they finally did and it was fine. I am concerned about the psychotic drugs and their consequences and how to help her recover from that too.
There is absolutely no understanding of geriatric care at the hospital. Even the surgeon and the doctors don't take into consideration that some drugs should not be prescribed to dementia patients, and everyone always forgets that she has dementia, I have to keep on reminding them. It's like a sub category or something. They just say she is agitated as if it's her normal set of being. This saddens me. I am going to research online and at a local pharmacy on how to approach this.
I get your frustration about the term "dementia" and I have to wonder why so many doctors and medical professionals seem so clueless about it. It certainly seems common to me.
The Ativan - I wouldn't worry about it. Morphine - it is out of the system pretty quickly (within a few hours) so I wouldn't worry about that either.
The Zyprexa - I can't see why they gave it to her. That being said, it probably needs more than one dose to be effective - or to cause any sort of issue with anesthesia or anything else.
There IS a social worker and that person WILL meet with you. Demand it.
Oh and don't mention getting a medical or general durable power of attorney if you are going to bring up dementia as well, because if her dementia is very mild, she may still totally understand and be able to grant you a POA, but otherwise, if the attorney doesn't think she's about to grasp what she's doing, they will not allow her to sign it.
Thank you @silibran.
They didn't check her UTI the first day, but when I kept on calling through the night, they finally did and it was fine. I am concerned about the psychotic drugs and their consequences and how to help her recover from that too.
There is absolutely no understanding of geriatric care at the hospital. Even the surgeon and the doctors don't take into consideration that some drugs should not be prescribed to dementia patients, and everyone always forgets that she has dementia, I have to keep on reminding them. It's like a sub category or something. They just say she is agitated as if it's her normal set of being. This saddens me. I am going to research online and at a local pharmacy on how to approach this.
I think the fact that your mom does not speak any English at all it’s probably one of the biggest barriers to her getting adequate care. That is probably why they don’t see that she has dementia, and it is also probably the reason she is so agitated because she doesn’t understand what they are doing and why they are causing her pain in her mind. Hopefully she speaks a language that is rather common, because if she does not understand what the therapist is trying to do she may not cooperate when they come in to try to walk her. She’s going to be in tremendous pain putting weight on that leg. Are you able to talk to her on the phone to explain everything that is happening? Do you know if she is allowed full weight bearing yet?
My mother still fell and broke her hip in an assisted living facility. She survived surgery to the surprise of her doctors. She died six months later from a cold/virus.
A broken hip seems to be a major sign of aging-related syndrome of decline. It's not anyone's fault. People decline. If it wasn't a broken hip, it would be something else. Moving around has no consequence on your mother's dementia. It's a chemical process in her brain. There is no way to stop dementia.
My sister and I needed to prove to my mother's doctors/hospital that we were listed on her health care proxy. Even if you are her caretaker and not listed on a proxy, some doctors will not talk to you.
Since you don't know my Mom and how long she has had dementia you can't be sure that what I said isn't true. Moving around has no effect on dementia but Mom's general well-being and outlook on life bloomed in the care center.
I haven't been living under a log somewhere. I live in an assisted living place myself. At least 6 elderly have died after a fall, and 3 others did not come back from the hospital. The rest of the deaths - over a dozen - were heart and stroke related.
Your Mom survived surgery but the doctors were surprised because it is so common for elders not to survive. She dies from the cold/virus because her immune system was depleted from fighting to survive the surgery.
My Mom broke her hip in 1993. She had a hip replacement and recovered. She didn't die till 2016. It is not a death sentence now to break a hip.
That's true, my Aunt broke her femur at the hip joint and survived surgery at age 89 (almost 90), plus three years in a nursing facility afterward, all while suffering from worsening dementia. In the end, it was Covid that took her down, she passed two days after her test came back positive for it.
Hip replacement may not be the death sentence it once was, but it significantly increase mortality risk.
"The elderly broken hip life expectancy is good, but this type of accident does increase one’s chances of dying when over the age of 65. While 4 out of 5 patients will survive a broken hip, one study showed that the overall mortality rate doubled over a 12-year period for those who had suffered from a hip fracture."
My Mom broke her hip in 1993. She had a hip replacement and recovered. She didn't die till 2016. It is not a death sentence now to break a hip.
I don’t think it’s actually the broken hip or the surgery that causes a decline leading to death. Rather, I think in a lot of cases the fall and subsequent hip fracture is simply a symptom of a decline that is already occurring.
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