Tuesday, March 03, 2009

{{{Keigan}}}

Prayers for both of my Ernies. I went to pick his Dad up at the nursing home that we had him at for respite. I expected that we would take him to the truck and go home. I got there and he wasn't dressed, there was no breakfast tray in his room and he was nearly comatose. Trying to rouse him was nearly impossible. He opened his eyes momentarily to take his meds. He was even more confused than he was when I brought him there only 6 days prior. I was jostling him and singing to him and, nope, he wouldn't open his eyes. The nurse and aides were acting like there wasn't anything wrong. I was thinking 'OMG, how am I going to get him in the truck' I just kept saying to them, This is not how he is... The nurse said "Oh, there's a cold going around here, I'll bet it got him!" Now, I know what he's like when he gets a cold. His voice sounds thick and husky and nothing more. He doesn't get non-responsive. They finally asked me did I need help getting him to the truck. I was like, "Uh, yeah!"

So we are trying to wheel him to the truck and as we are going through the lobby the medical director happened to be in the front office as we were dragging him by. Grandpa wouldn't even try to pick his feet up as he was being pushed. His feet were getting dragged under the wheel chair and they kept stopping the chair and fixing his legs and going again. The Dr. saw this and said "Whoa, whoa, what's the matter here?" I said that he's not waking up and that this is not at all how he is. So because the Dr. saw him and told them to get a set of vital signs they finally did. I had taken his pulse and it was tachy at 122 and his respirations were about 24. He felt warmish, about 99. If they weren't going to send him to the hospital, once I got him in my truck that was where I was going to head directly.

So at this point, he's been in the hospital for a couple days. His tests came back negative for infection, they did a CT scan of his head and it showed extensive small vessel disease and loss of brain volume consistent with Alzheimer's disease. His renal function was impaired, and once he was rehydrated, that was much better.

When Ernie and I went to visit him today he was back to the way he was mentally prior to his stay at the nursing home. So thank God for that!

I am incredibly disappointed in the staff that was going to just send him home with me as if he was the same as when I brought him there for respite. I heard one of the women from the office sounding very shocked as she said, "That man walked in this facility last week!" He couldn't even hold his head up or lift his feet for them to push the wheel chair at that point.

I guess it was too much trouble for them to make sure he drank like I specfically asked them. I told them he needed to have fluids pushed. I wonder if I told them that he needed to be fed if he would have been starved? Stupid fucking jackasses.

3 Comments:

At 11:17 AM , Blogger heidi said...

Oh Susan! :-x What a LOAD! I can't believe they treated GrandPa like that!! Poor guy. :-(

 
At 1:25 PM , Blogger gloria b said...

(((Susan)))) can you report that facility for the abuse they put Grandpa thru?! I am so sorry that he had to endure that.

 
At 9:22 PM , Blogger Clossey said...

Holy poop! You just can't find good help these days!

 

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