Elderly Parents, Alzheimer's, Dementia, Falls, ER's, and so forth....

Please continue to keep my Mom, myself and family in your thoughts and prayers. Things are just getting worse. Mom was on the floor when I got there yesterday, she had fallen and had been laying there for she said 2 hours. She "thought" she tripped, but I am not sure that is what happened. Thank goodness, I had the paramedics come out, and we did take her to the ER to be checked over. She had a bump on her head, and was complaining of her neck hurting, and being of course "sore" all over... nothing showed to be broken, and she has a couple of bruises, and a couple of small "wounds" but nothing bad enough for stitches. This situation is just getting worse by the day. I was there on Sunday afternoon, and her medications once again were all mixed up. I had just had them all correct in the pill box for 7 days on Saturday. So, I got there and found Sunday, part of them "moved" around, and 3 or 4 days of them "missing"... I explained again, about that she cannot take 2 or 3 days worth of medications... or NOT take any at all. But, I honestly do not think she "gets" any of it. She was so "out of it" Sunday, I was extremely upset and concerned when I left there. But, I also was not feeling well myself, and I am dealing with my own pain pump NOT set correctly, and I am not sure what the hell is going on with my own pain doctor, but he was "off" himself week before last when I went in to have it refilled. He had the settings "way off" and I wondered why my pain was still so bad. I knew we had not gotten it all the way back up to the normal range that he old pump had, simply because we did not want to overload my system with too much all at once, but it is definitely NOT near being correct. Even the 3 boluses I take daily are set at 0.1 and should be (1.0)!!! So a HUGE DIFFERENCE... and I had been taking I guess my oral medications a bit more than usual because I have been compensating for the pump not being set correctly. Anyway, I go in this afternoon, but not until 2:30PM which is so late in the day to have to go to Dallas and then get out of there before rush hour and try to get home... plus MOM has STILL NOT GOTTEN ANYTHING FROM THE MARKET, and that is what I was supposed to do yesterday, until I got there and she was on the floor. Then I was really pissed at the ER. They NEVER CAME IN AND TOLD ME ONE THING. THEY REALLY NEVER ASKED ANY QUESTIONS OR TRIED TO ASK ABOUT OTHER HEALTH ISSUES, and in fact I DO NOT THINK ANY DOCTOR EVEN SHOWED THEIR FACE. 

There were two women, one of which I knew was a nurse, and she was not pleasant at all, and then another woman, who possibly was a physician but I did not know and she never said so. They did not ask me any questions, and I had left when they were taking her for the CT of her neck and head... the girl told me it would be 45 min to an hour before they would have the results, so I needed to run home, and check on my pups. 

I did not know I was going to be gone that long when I left the house, so they needed to be checked on. By the time I got back to the hospital no more than 25 minutes later, she was DISCHARGED and sitting in a chair, and they were trying to call me to come and get her!!!!!!! Again, no word from a doctor, no questions, nothing... they barely got a wheelchair to bring her out! And at the time all of this had happened at the house, she was not able to stand up by herself... so needless to say I am NOT pleased with anything I saw, and even the paramedics were not all that "pleasant".... 

I won't go into details, but basically I called the regular phone number and not 911 because I did not consider it a life or death emergency... Mom was talking, breathing, not screaming in pain, but she was not able to get up and she was complaining of her neck hurting... so I call the regular ambulance line... well when the paramedics got there and I met them outside, and told them she fell etc... and one of them said do you want to take her to the hospital? And I told him well if something appears to be broken, or she is not feeling well or in pain when you get her up, then yes, BUT, if she is able to stand up, or not complaining of pain then maybe I will not take her to ER but call her doctor... and he got about half smart with me and said well then why did you call 911? 

And I told him I DID NOT CALL 911... I called the regular ambulance number so if they from there made it sound like it was a 911 call I cannot help that... anyway, I did not get home until 4PM or after and I am mentally, physically and emotionally drained, even this morning... 

I have to get a home health care nurse set up to go out and see her when I am not there, or in between me being there, because I can't be there 24/7 and even though I go everyday, or call if I don't go, someone else needs to come in and check on her, her vitals, make sure she is taking medications properly, and so forth... I don't think she is eating properly... and there is just lots of stuff that is just not right, and this has happened way too fast... within 3 to 4 months she went down this quickly.... anyway, I have to get her stuff done this morning and then get myself to the doctor in Dallas this afternoon, and I hurt from head to toe... so again keep us in your thoughts and prayers.... Rhia