Changing Channels

The report from Mom's recent visit with the Neurosurgeon was as expected. He stated that the shunt has done all it can do, and he is ruling out hydrocephalus as the cause of her memory problems. He advised us to see the Neurologist for further evaluation of her dementia and he will continue to monitor the hydrocephalus and her walking since the shunt does seem to have improved her fall risk.

After visiting with the Surgeon, we went to her Internist. She had a Anxiety/Panic attack in his office and became very distressed that she would not live to see her grandson grow up. It was very intense. The Doctor adjusted her medications significantly upon witnessing this. I explained to him that while I had not seen her behave with the sadness she was exhibiting in his office, I had witnessed her exhibit extreme levels of anxiety and agitation; so he increased her medications for anxiety/agitation. This occurred on Thursday.

On Friday, she was still highly agitated, even after taking the new medication dosage, although she now was mad rather than sad. And proceeded to inform me that there was nothing wrong with her and she wanted her car returned to her.

On Saturday, the extreme agitation continued, and my husband, and son went with me to her house to try to get her to eat and take her medication. She continued with the above arguments (there's nothing wrong with her, I'm keeping her "locked" in her house, and I have no reason to keep her car from her, because no doctor has told her that she is unable to drive) She also blames my husband for "brainwashing" me into believing that there is something wrong with her.
I did get her to eat and take her medication, but later in the day, she called the Police and reported that we had stolen her car. The Officer we spoke to understood that she had a memory impairment and we offered to show him the diagnosis and Power of Attorney, but he had assessed there was something wrong during his conversation with her, and declined. He gave us a report number and offered some resources and stated he would include our information in his report in case she made another call.
She continued making angry calls to me into the evening until I had to unplug the phone at bedtime.

On Sunday morning I went to her house and had a very pleasant conversation with her.
She seemed to have no memory of the events of the previous three days and took her medication without any problems.

On Monday I arrived at her home and she initially appeared calm. However, I noticed that her bed had not been slept in and she had not taken her medications from the evening before. I brought groceries into the house, and took her medications to her (she refused). She began telling me that I needed to bring her car home, which I explained that I couldn't do that because she no longer had driving privileges, she started yelling and cursing about how I was imprisoning her, had abandoned her, turned against her, and she didn't understand how I could do that after all she had done for me. I told her I loved her and was trying to protect her. She laughed and said I was lying and that I was just trying to get rid of her.
I told her I was going to go put the groceries away and went to the kitchen.
Within a few minutes, she had followed me, and continued her rant. By this time she was screaming and yelled "There's going to be a murder here".
I told her that was inappropriate and asked her to calm down or I would have to call 911. She continued screaming and told me I was trespassing and she never wanted to see me again, that I had betrayed her. I dialed 911 and told them that Mom was highly agitated and requested assistance, she began screaming that she was the victim, why was I calling 911 on her? I had barely given the address when she went and grabbed an knife from the butcher block; I ran out the back door telling the 911 operator that she had a knife. She followed me out the door onto the patio, but didn't pursue me very far. I stayed on the phone with 911 and she went back inside with the knife and came back outside without it and continued to tell me to get off her property, that I was trespassing.
The Police arrived within minutes. I explained that she has Alzheimer's and has no history of violence or mental illness, but that in recent days has been highly agitated. They spent about 30 minutes talking with her and she eventually agreed to see a "Doctor". They transported her to a local Psychiatric Emergency Hospital for stabilization. There was no arrest.

It is painfully obvious that Mom is no longer able to live independently.
She is suffering terribly and it's causing everyone who loves her enormous pain, too.

At the time of this post (Thursday), she is still in the hospital, and not yet properly stabilized.

We have secured a long term care facility that specializes in Alzheimer's/Dementia affected individuals, that I feel good about. Though it breaks my heart that she won't be able to live at home anymore. I kept hoping to put it off longer...