Hello again!
... it's been a little while.
A couple of weeks ago another flawless streak of daily actifitivity reporting ended abruptly. At least this time I've got a valid excuse, though, and that's some sarcastic foreshadowing up-front.
Roughly two weeks before my last streak ended I had posted about how grandma wasn't feeling too well. A few days later it seemed like she had recovered, but I guess that wasn't really the case after all.
A week later grandma started to show signs of not doing too well again and then things escalated quickly from there on. A slightly elevated temperature and a complete loss of appetite by Saturday that turned into a solid fever and a total loss of responsiveness on Sunday morning.
I tried calling a doctor to come to her home but the guy refused to even see her and told me to just give her some ibuprofen to manage the fever and wait for Monday to take her to her doctor's office. I was already in disbelief about his refusal to help when he added, "You should think twice about calling an ambulance for an elderly lady during this pandemic situation". Oh really?!? You don't say!
I watched grandma suffering for another hour or two but then I had to call the emergency services as she was going completely delirious by that time.
The emergency responders came fully suited up and immediately said it obviously had to be covid. She had a high fever and a critically low oxygen saturation and so they shipped her to the hospital right away.
She was admitted to the corona ward, of course. The doctors that night asked me all sorts of tough questions about life support measures and putting her to a ventilator and all of that stuff, telling me there would be a reasonably high chance she might not make it through the night.
But she did!
They had to give her a blood transfusion because she had critically low hemoglobin levels, which apparently had also caused those low oxygen levels. The first corona swabs came back negative.
In the meantime they diagnosed her with severe anemia and a urinary tract infection which was treated with antibiotics and continued to hold her in covid isolation for three more days until the third PCR test came back negative, too.
Then they immediately put her out into the geriatric station for "further examinations", where I still wasn't allowed to visit at all, due to the thing and the measures against it, and then they suddenly called me to say they'd be releasing her right away the following day.
I was worried sick, nobody had really explained to me what had caused her critical symptoms and it's basically impossible to get someone on the phone who's got enough time and authority to answer your questions at the hospital, but I was also relieved to know she'd be coming home again.
She was brought back on Friday morning, looking like she had been through hell. They brought her in a wheelchair and with a urinary catheter. She wasn't even able to stand up by herself and the nurses who brought her back couldn't tell me anything about her situation either.
Grandma wasn't talking at all, but she seemed quite relieved to be in a familiar environment again. I lifted her into her bed where she immediately fell asleep while I googled how to service that catheter thing they had left her with.
I tried calling the hospital to find out why she even needed the catheter, but of course, nobody couldn't tell me anything.
Grandma faded in and out of her sleep. Unwilling to move and barely responding to anything. I had to spoon-feed her in bed while she was visibly in grave discomfort.
At that point I was completely hopeless.
On the way into the weekend, where it would be close to impossible to find professional help again, alone with a demented intensive care patient, no clue what to do and no idea what was up. Worst of all, watching my pale grandmother in torment at every movement in her bed!
We somehow made it through Friday night. I don't think I've ever seen her smile the way she did when she opened her eyes on Saturday morning after a good night of sleep. The relief, I dare say joy, in her eyes when she looked at me and realized she was no longer in the hospital. Heartbreaking!!
But she still wasn't able to move without pain and seemed to be in permanent discomfort. Barely speaking and only vaguely reacting to my attempts at asking her what was causing her pain.
I spend most of Saturday trying to find out more from the hospital and getting a hold of a professional nurse to help me with taking care of my suddenly bed-bound grandmother.
Eventually I learned that the catheter was only placed because she "didn't want to pee" on Friday morning before they transported her home. Out of convenience I guess?!? For real?!
I also learned from a nurse that if the catheter wasn't placed properly it could be causing intense discomfort. By the evening I managed to get a hold of another nurse who was able to come by and remove the catheter all together.
Sunday morning grandma was able to sit up and get out of her bed again. Hallelujah!!
Things have slowly been getting better ever since, but it won't ever go back to how it was before. Grandma is already far along her Alzheimer's dementia and the traumatic days at the hospital have taken their toll for sure!
I have since requested the care documentation from the hospital which revealed that she had a catheter placed and removed multiple times while she was there. Due to her dememtia she likely wasn't able to understand why all that happened at all and certainly didn't cooperate with their "care-giving". So they simply shove a hose into her bladder to make things easier to handle?!? Brutes!
After speaking to a seperate doctor about the whole affair she's likely been carrying around a urinary tract infection for quite a while which eventually flamed up and started spreading to the intestinal tract and other organs sending the immune system into shock and depleting her hemoglobin in the process.
I'm giving her Vitamin B12 injections and lots of iron supplements to alleviate the anemic condition now and she's slowly recovering.
A big part of her cognitive functions remain lost, though. She's no longer even able to find the way to the toilet by herself. At least she's willing to go there again, though. For about the first two weeks she would immediately start panicking when she needed to go. Severe trauma! Luckily the dementia at least kinda helps to forget such bad experiences quickly, too. The first couple of days she would literally start crying or screaming when I tried to help her.
Just to be safe, she has to wear diapers now! She hates it but she seems to have accepted it. I usually get up two or three times every night to show her the way to the bathroom and she needs full-on instructions with everything from brushing her teeths to wiping her butt... I thought taking care of her needs before the hospital was intense, in hindsight, that was all quite swift and easy up to here.
I'm worried about how all of this will... can continue.
Previously I was able to go for decently long walks and know she could at least take care of her most basic needs herself. The day even had enough hours left to do some work for money, too... That's all getting much much harder now.
The first weeks after the hospital it looked like I wouldn't be able to continue taking care of her in her own home anymore at all. I'd hate to have to give her into an elderly home where she would likely be taken care of with "convenience and efficiency" and possibly even covid related isolationary practices... ugh!!
Well, we are getting used to a new routine now. I am hopeful that we can pull through this for a few more months at least and things might get a bit easier in the meantime... but I am also aware that with the next disturbance things might go further south very quickly and permanently... and there's a limit to how far I can keep doing this here. Financially, emotionally, without damaging my own health.
I've slowly started to #takemorewalks again. Shorter ones. But it's something that really helps me stay sane and find some balance. I will try to report my actifitivity again, but don't expect the content to be rich and explorative... I'm also thinking daily reports might be over committing myself... we'll see...
I'm sorry, I know this wasn't a pleasant read. It took me a couple of weeks to find the strength to pick the actifit app up again and I feel like some of you deserve to know what's up and what has happened...
Soooo...
Thanks for your time!!
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
