As far as mental status, it is drug and infection related. However, a key issue now is that her infection is causing diarrhea and she refuses to eat. As a result, she is becoming malnourished. The doctor said "eat or feeding tubes." She has signed the sheet for no feeding tubes. This is a key concern for me.
Andi...my mother had the same problem and the same directive.
While she's still not eating very much we were able to get her to drink her nutrituion. She is getting a protein drink and
Glucerna 3 times a day. I think we also tried
Boost Plus because they often use that for chemo patients when they start loosing weight. Now she's drinking
Mighty Shakes at each meal. Unfortunately, one of my sisters or I had to be there at every meal urging her to drink. Sometimes it would take hours to get one into her.
It's such a vicious cycle once they have diarrhea. They just don't want to eat and soon they have no appetite or desire to eat.
It's so hard to know how to provide her with care. Like many others, we had to force my mother to move to assisted living.
Now that she's been so ill, I know she understands why. The nurse that found her unconscious seven weeks ago probably saved her life. If she'd been alone I hate to think what might have happened.
Parenting our parents is so hard, I'm not sure any of us are prepared for it. Please know that you're not alone in all of this. It's sometimes very hard to do the right thing.
