May 6, 2014

Nursing Home

See, I told you I would end up posting about it again once I got a full update. The appointment for my grandfather's evaluation was today at 11am. My brother got here a little after noon. The three of us (Master, my brother, and myself) pretty much just spent the majority of the time sitting around and talking. My brother vented about his job and then it was basically just joking around and making small talk. We were keeping our minds off of other things. At 1pm my mother sent me a text asking if I had heard anything from my father. I replied saying that no, I was expecting him to call at some point in the afternoon. I didn't know how long the appointment went or whether my father had to talk to anyone after the fact. It was a little irritating just because we're all waiting on the information and if I had anything I would let her know. I'm not about to call my father to ask for an update. He said he would call me when he had a moment so I was going to wait. My mother is a very anxious person. She actually has pretty bad anxiety/panic attacks sometimes. So when something important is going on she wants updates immediately. Well, if I don't have an update I can't tell you anything and I had told her that once I had one I would call her.

Anyway... the three of us just killed time for a while. I will admit that at around 3:30pm I did send my dad a very short text. I wasn't trying to bother him at all. And I figured a text would be safer than calling him. About ten minutes later he called me. He wasn't upset that I had sent him a text. He had just gotten home.

They had the evaluation, then my dad and uncle had to talk with some people afterward. Once that was done both my uncle and my dad stayed to visit with Grandpa for a while.

So... here is the full update...

Grandpa is going to stay within the rehabilitation center for another two weeks. Then after that he will be going into a nursing home. He requires 24 hour care. Every doctor and nurse at the appointment agreed on that. Since he does need 24 hour care assisted living is out of the question. He can't be trusted to take care of himself at any point. With assisted living they don't keep an eye on you all day. By trusted I mean that he may fall, or he may forget where he is, etc. and so on. With the nursing home he'll have staff looking after him at all times.

The good thing is that the nursing home is actually at the same facility as the rehabilitation center. As my father put it, there are cheaper places but who knows what kind of care he'll receive. The nursing home has the same staff as the rehabilitation center and Grandpa trusts them. And we all agree that he is being well taken care of where he is, so it's best to put him in their nursing home. It is a very nice place. So that takes some sadness out of it. I'm still upset that he has to go to a nursing home rather than assisted living, but if that is the safest and best thing for him... then that is what has to be done. It's better than attempting to put him into assisted living and then him unintentionally hurting himself or something along those lines.

Grandpa has to go for a throat x-ray. He is complaining of not being able to swallow very well and that it hurts when he tries to swallow. The doctors and nurses cannot find a reason, externally, as to why that would be. His throat isn't swollen and there aren't any lumps. So he'll be going in for that. Dad isn't sure when that appointment is just yet. They are already adjusting Grandpa's diet to try and accommodate that by giving him softer foods.

I'm glad that Grandpa will be in the rehabilitation center for another two weeks though. They will be trying to get his strength back up at least a little bit before going to the nursing home portion of the facility. In order to not confuse him my father has requested that the doctors, nurses, and nuns (it's a Catholic facility) just tell Grandpa that he is being moved but is still in the rehabilitation center rather than telling him that he is now in a nursing home. Since he'll pretty much be dealing with the same people, that shouldn't be that hard. The nuns, doctors, and nurses agreed. With how bad my grandpa's memory is they just don't want to confuse him anymore.

Dad did tell me to try and visit again soon because Grandpa's short term memory is getting so bad that Dad doesn't want Grandpa to forget who I am. That will be a very, very hard day if it comes to pass. It might even if I do visit him frequently but at least it will be less likely. Well, hopefully for a little while anyway.

I did talk to my mother after I got off the phone with my dad. Dad sounded pretty upset so the phone call with him was only about 15 minutes. I told Mom everything I had been told. She asked some clarifying questions that I just didn't have answers to. When I talk to Dad about Grandpa I try not to "grill" him about it. Dad tells me all of the important things and that's all I need.

2 comments:

  1. Your grandfather, you, and your family are in my thoughts during this difficult time <3

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