Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I have a tornado of my own.  Mike's condition is rapidly declining even though his psychiatrist said his dementia is in the early stages.  What the psychiatrist isn't aware of is how much time we are having to devote to caring for Mike.  

Yesterday we took his meals to him and I was helping him get his lunch ready.  I told him to get some mustard out of the refrigerator and he brought the butter to the table and left the refrigerator door open.  I told him to look at the refrigerator and tell me what he needed to do.  He said, "Clean the microwave".  I suggested shutting the refrigerator door.

He was obsessed about being constipated which I never know if he really is or not.  I gave him two ounces of prune juice and told him to drink plenty of water and be patient.  We left him and went home after a couple of hours.

I talked to him several times after that and he said he was being patient but I have no idea whether he drank a gallon of prune juice or not.  Ron and I got busy working in the yard and about 3 hours later I checked for phone messages and had none.  VERY UNUSUAL.....I called Mike and got no answer.  We called for another 45 minutes and then drove over to his house.  It was about 7:00 pm.  We found him in the floor face down.....poop everywhere....his nose cut, his arms scraped, bump on his head.  He was dead weight.  Ron managed to get him up and then got him showered.  With out going into further details......it was a mess! 

I called my older brother and got him over there and he stayed the night with Mike.  Ron took off work today and will stay with him today.  I don't know what our next step will be.

If this had happened this Friday he would have been on the floor for days.  Ron's surgery is day after tomorrow!  I don't know what I'm going to do.  I can't be in two places at once.

4 comments:

Olga said...

Yikes! Too much for one person to handle. I hope you can get all the help you all deserve right now.

Deb said...

Oh dear, with such a rapid decline there may be something else going on with Mike, perhaps a kidney or other infection?

Is there someone you can call on during an emergency? You need to be able to pay attention to Ron right now, and Mike needs more help and care than you can realistically provide for him.

Sending prayers and thoughts of courage and strength your way.

oklhdan said...

Wow Deb you hit it on the head. We took mike to ER to be checked out! He had blood on his urine. Has a kidney infection.

Muffy's Marks said...

Praying for Ron that his recovery continues. and lots of prayers for you. Oh my goodness, I don't know how you do it all. I wouldn't feel bad about being direct with your niece. At least now she knows where you stand, and she can't associate empathy with approval!!! Please be a little selfish and take some time for yourself.