Fall-o-Meter Reset – Sunday, September 16, 2018

Good news is mom went exactly 3 weeks without falling. This really seemed to be looking up – meds have been adjusted, she’s not as combative, and seemed to understand that she can’t get up on her own. Welp, now the bad news – Just when we start letting our guard down, she proved once again that she needs constant care. Unfortunately we can’t have a sitter there next to her 24 hours a day, which does seem like that’s what she should have in order to guarantee her safety.

Mom apparently tried to get out of bed by herself yesterday morning and fell out of bed. She ended up breaking her glasses but thankfully that appears to be the worst of it. We bought a fall mat to be put down next to her bed, not really thinking that she’d be breaking it in so soon. I’m glad that we didn’t wait to get it for her. I don’t think that this will keep her from injuring herself again, but it’s her best chance while she’s at Morningside and continues to do things like this.

She has also been having problems while she eats. She apparently has forgotten that very important step of swallowing her food after she chews and chews. We have noticed that she will try to take another bite while her mouth is still full. Even when prompted to swallow, she’s not clearing her mouth fully. If not careful, it’s possible that she could aspirate. She’s already on a mechanical soft diet (basically chopped meats). If the kitchen can handle it, she might get moved to ground meats. The next step would be pureed food, which is disgusting and not enjoyable at all. I don’t think that she’s even close to this point, but if she ever needs to get put on a feeding tube, she’ll have to go back to Heritage. Morningside is not equipped to handle that level of care. Knowing mom, she will not leave that tube in anyway, so I’m really hoping that it doesn’t get to that point. With having a sitter there every day, the lunches and dinners are covered. Morningside has been great in making someone available to sit with her during breakfast. I wonder if it will get to the point where they can’t keep someone off of the floor that long so she’ll be given something like Ensure for breakfast or just oatmeal. I don’t know – we’ll just have to see how things progress.

We have another care plan meeting on Thursday. Cyndie will be here and will attend with me this time.

Tomorrow is mom’s birthday. I’ll go by to see her, take her a piece of yummy birthday cake, and swap out her broken glasses for new ones. As much as I’d like to get her a gift, sadly it’s pointless. I don’t trust that she will just “look” at something pretty. I think that we’re not completely out of the woods with her picking something up and using it as a projectile. So cards and cake is the theme of this year’s birthday.

She doesn’t always answer her phone and she rarely makes outgoing calls. Don’t be offended if you haven’t gotten a call from her. There’s a lot of things that she does not remember – mostly short-term memory loss. She will forget that she talked to me or Cyndie earlier in the day and she didn’t remember Cyndie visiting just last weekend (even when Cyndie spoke to her about it the following day she was there). It’s all really quite sad. I’m just thankful that she seems to finally be not as angry and violent. She still says things from time to time because I know she’s miserable, but she’s a lot calmer.

I’m really hoping that she has a nice day tomorrow.