Well, today may have been one of the most depressing days
I've spent in a very long time. I contacted Susan last night from the
ER and told her I couldn't work today. She understood. I went to Atria to spend a few hours just to observe my
mother and see how she was after the emergency room trip last night (of
which she has no memory).
I knew it was not going to be a fun day when I walked in and
asked how she was. She had her head down and said "not good." I
asked what hurt and she said her headache, her stomach was upset and her
right leg was hurting a lot. She asked if there wasn't something I could
do.
Sadly, and bad me, this led to about a half an hour
discussion about how I had taken her to the doctor (which she does not
remember) and she told the doctor she had no pain. I told her that the
doctor can't help her if she doesn't let her know what hurts. She got
defensive and decided that she just would never say anything about her pain
again, since she doesn't know what to do and how to do it. She could
not get comfortable in any position.
I actually took a video of her describing her pain so that
if she tells a doctor she is not in pain, I can show what she was talking
about.
An Atria worker came in to check on her and my mother perked
up and didn't mention her pain, then sank back down into her pain again
after the worker left.
I had gotten there at 11 so at 12, I asked if she felt like
going to lunch, which she agreed to do. As luck would have it, they
were celebrating September birthdays and she agreed to sit at the birthday
table, though didn't talk to anyone I did not have my camera with me.
One of the guys at the table will celebrate his 100th birthday next week.
I'm wondering if maybe she was miffed because someone is older than
she is and she seems to want to think nobody can possibly be as old as she
is.
But lunch was uncharacteristically good and they brought
out a HUGE birthday cake and all the staff sang to the birthday people.
My mother never cracked a smile.
I was going to pass on the
cake in preference for peach pie, the alternate choice, but, as an old cake
decorator, I was curious about both the cake and the mountain of frosting on
it. I decided to have a piece, fully expecting to find the frosting
cloyingly sweet, but instead it was stabilized whipped cream and absolutely
delicious. So I ate the whole thing, which I regretted about 4-5 hours
later when I had the sensation of being uncomfortably full!
We went back to the apartment (she is never sure how to get there).
She tried to get comfortable for awhile and I finally suggested she take a
nap, which she did...so I did too.
(isn't it amazing that I can take selfies in my sleep?)
She
slept for about an hour and woke when Jeri called. Jeri is usually a
bright spot in her day, but she seemed almost irritated that Jeri kept
talking to her.
After we finished the conversation, she was
very restless, saying over and over again that she doesn't know where she is
supposed to go or what she's supposed to do. This is not a new thing.
She has said that every single day since she moved to Atria.
She knows she has to do something but she is so afraid of doing it
wrong...and can't figure out what it is in the first place.
I
reminded her that I had brought her clean laundry and that it was on her bed
waiting to be folded, so she got up and did that (to my surprise; usually
when I suggest some simple task she can do, she refuses to do it). But
then she came back and it started all over again -- where was she supposed
to go and what was she supposed to do?
I tried telling her
that the doctor told her she was supposed to rest today, but she wasn't
buying that. She would just sit there, head in her hands, the picture
of misery because she can't figure out what she is supposed to be doing --
and the leg pain was just making it worse.
She would get up,
walk into the bedroom, turn around and walk back out again and into the
kitchen, then back to the couch to ask where she should go and what should
she do. Then she'd repeat the trip again.
I cannot tell
you how much it pains me to know that this seems to be her life now.
Agony over not knowing what to do and unwilling to do anything suggested she
do, even something as simple as moving the newspapers, which are bothering
her because they are "clutter" and putting them in a stack so the
housekeeper can throw them out. I cannot tell how many times I have
suggested that "something to do" to her, but she never does it.
I finally came home,
hating to leave her but there was nothing I could do to help her. I
did come home, though, and wrote to her doctor. I can't believe there
is NOTHING but Tylenol to relieve her pain. This is what I wrote:
I'm sorry to keep bothering you. I spent 5 hours with my mother today and she is in agony over her leg pain. She says it starts in her right hip and goes down the front of her leg to about mid-calf. This is no attention-seeking, she even cries out in her sleep. Today only one leg was involved, the other seemed OK. But she could not sit or lie comfortably anywhere. She walks very slowly, and with a limp.
She had a bout of sciatica many years ago. I'm wondering if this might be the problem. I'm also wondering if referral to an orthopedist might be in order. I am so frustrated because Tylenol does not help and it is so frustrating to see her in such pain and be able to do NOTHING to help her.
I read up on sciatica and it is
described on one page I found (which, of course, I cannot find again) as
pain originating in the hip and going down usually just one leg to about
mid-calf. That is EXACTLY the pain she is describing. I hope Dr.
A will give us a referral to an orthopedist because it is clear that she
herself has nothing to offer my mother, but that doesn't relieve her pain at
all.
I just hate to think that
this is her life from now until it is over.
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