Monday 8 June 2009

Could have been ...

... a better day!

First was my doctors appointment. Bloods show my sugar levels have increased again but he wants them re-done in a couple of months before they class me as 'officially' diabetic but it's above the threshold anyway so reckon that's a foregone conclusion. They also showed that there was some inflammation going on but no clue as to why. X-rays showed nothing untoward with my hip (which is what I expected) so it's continuing with the heavy duty pain killers for now while I wait for an appointment with a Rheumatologist. Doc reckons I need scans of the bone and soft tissue (again, what I expected) as he says there's something definitely going on but there's really no clue as to what. He's asked for an urgent referral and I'm to ring him if I don't get an appointment within 4 weeks. He will chase up.

Worse part of the day - Dad!! Went to pack him up and get him ready for respite and if I thought he was bad before, well, I hadn't seen anything! He was like a completely incoherrent zombie. He was shaking badly, barely noticed I was there and when he did made no sense at all. He was bordering on hallucinating, unable to see clearly and couldn't place a cup back on a table, which he thought should have been at floor level. I went to find the Care Manager to find out what had gone on over the weekend and she thought he was doing well! If only they knew the man I knew 2 weeks ago, but they only know him as he's been since he moved.

I'm hoping I've found, if not the whole reason for how he was today, a good part of it. It's a case of the 'cor blimey to the ridiculous'! I'm pretty certain he's gone from taking none of his pain killers to overdosing on them. A new box of his daily ones, that was only opened last week, had barely enough left for his week in respite. He's taken 3 weeks worth of pills in about a week! The carers are reminding him about taking them and getting them ready for him as well but it seems that he's also, finally, decided to self-medicate. He must have known he shouldn't have been having both lots because he emptied his trouser pockets today and gave me all the empty tablet packs he'd hidden/saved - but 'forgotten' about. It looks as though he's been doing the same with his night ones as well. What I can't understand is why the carers hadn't noticed how quickly these painkillers had been going down. He's only supposed to take 2 tablets every 6 hours with a maximum of 6 tabs a day. In respite they're dished out at the relevant times and kept in a safe inbetween times. I'm hoping that, once he's getting the correct dose of all his meds this week, we might be able to start getting him back on track but I'm not confident as I think he's now tipped over the edge. Having spoken to the Care Manager at his new home, his meds will be kept away from him when he goes back home and he will no longer have access to them unless he's ever in a position to self-medicate again.

He's never been diagnosed with dementia - having convinced doctors previously, over the years, he didn't need the necessary tests - but the Community Nurse today spoke of his dementia in general conversation. Having told her he'd never been diagnosed with it she gave me a funny look and said, maybe not but ..... I know he's had mild dementia for years but he's never been labeled. Reckon that will change very soon - and it'll be no longer mild.

I hope he enjoys his week away, as he's done before, and I hope it is a turning point to bringing him back to us. Everybody, except the Community Nurse, seemed to think it a good idea he went as it was something familiar to him. I'm hoping she's proved wrong!

Thanks for dropping by .....

1 comment:

Liz said...

Hope things go well in respite for your dad Pam and he gets back to being a bit more 'normal'. Sorry to hear about the diabetes know what that's like as still having troubles myself. Cut down on the sugar and carbs for a while and see if it helps. Take care. Liz x