Hell yeah he’s a fall risk. He fell twice in one day the Friday before everything went boom. This was not his first rodeo either. It’s just he’ll do pretty well for a while and then something happens and down he goes. This time I think he was getting sick. At the time he asked us if my daughter was still there and I said no it was five in the morning why would she be there. It seems he dreamed she had a guitar to sell him. our daughter has never owned a guitar.
Parkinson’s has a multitude of symptoms and they are different for everyone. Hubster doesn’t tremor (hell I shake more) he is stiff, Parkinson’s often causes people to fall backwards that and his loss of facial expression “flat affect” are what brought his diagnosis. It also causes many sleep disturbances. Sometimes violent hitting of bed partners thankfully never that. But he has long involve conversations, he sings. If you know the tune Time Has Slipped Away, he sang that one night complete with the echo affect. He sometimes moves his hands like he’s doing some task or other.
His hip has been painful for unrelated reasons and he would get up and sleep in his chair. I think a combo of being very ill and the Parkinson’s led to him falling hard. I just think mabe we didn’t realize how hard or how sick he was. I should have gotten him to the ER faster. But woulda shoulda coulda. It won’t happen again.
I don’t need to tell you this, but in my personal and related anecdotal experience, falling is a huge risk in the elderly. And by “huge” I mean “potentially fatal”. Every precaution needs to be taken when falling is a risk. It can be relatively innocuous, like falling on a carpeted floor, or potentially life-threatening, like falling down the stairs or onto a concrete surface.
Many people have acid reflux. You’re horizontal in bed and a bit of gastric juices work their way up into your throat with the burning & vile flavor. If they don’t get that far and you happen to awake, stand, & walk, sometimes you’ll burp a bit or just breath harder and there they are.
Happens to me maybe twice a month and has for years. Some folks get it frequently enough to where it really damages their throat & such.
Eating late before bed, excess alcohol or carbonated beverages, unusual sleeping posture, and yes, stress can all trigger an episode.
Not sure if this fits your situation, but perhaps worth a think.
It’s natural to become used to whatever degree of infirmity they have, and not really notice when they’ve kicked it up a notch until they fall or faint or whatever unmistakable sign. Then it’s also natural to minimize that as just part of the sad routine.
Point being it’s fine to say and mean “won’t happen again”. But it probably will happen again at a different point in the process for a different cause unrecognized in the moment. And when it does, that’s not an occasion for recriminations.
Good luck and big hugs!! Him being out of ICU is all to the good.
Thirded. There are a bunch of apps (something like “lotsa helping hands” is one some friends have used) that are designed for you to enter stuff you’d like friends to do, and friends to pick up tasks that are convenient or satisfying for them to do for you.
You might ask the hospital social worked if they know of any that are popular in your area, or how to get started.
I only had that issue the one time. I just hadn’t had enough sleep. Usually my son comes with me. I’ve been making sure I sleep enough since. The night time driving issue is dry eye. I bought some night driving glasses and they work fairly well. Though I’d like to kick dry eye right in the crotch if it had one. It is so aggravating. The fact is I don’t really have anyone to ask for stuff. My sister is going to drive me to my younger son’s house which is an hour and fifteen min. away to pick up a van we’re buying from him. I’m just hoping he can get to Mary Free Bed soon. It’s closer and he’ll be better. Thanks all.
He was much better today. Like himself. They gave him a unit of blood again but the drop wasn’t as big. Oxygen, and BP are good, chest exrays are good. He can’t pee on his own and I think it’s because they haven’t been giving him his flomax. He can’t have anything by mouth, and flomax, I guess, is not supposed to be tube fed. Surprise, we’ve been doing it through his g-tube for years. Hopefully they start him back on it soon. Hubster says maybe to Mary Free Bed Sunday. I didn’t hear that from the doc. or nurses so we shall see.
He is completely himself today. He still can’t pee, and it was weird the nurse assured me they could straight Cath him at Mary Free Bed yay? Because they couldn’t put flomax through the g-tube. So she sent the doctor (named Schumcker) snerk … anyway he said he could have flomax through the tube as long as his BP was good and it is. Tomorrow they will start him back on it. He will transfer to Mary Free Bed either tomorrow or Monday. He is very relieved. Now that he is aware he isn’t getting much sleep at night. So, making progress. Good BP, good, oxygen, his hemoglobin is not dropping like it was. Leg still swollen, still bruised all over, but getting better.
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