Book Board Chat

Hi Paula, she was given morphine from Friday night in ER through Saturday because they couldn't operate right away because she was on Plavix, so post-poned the surgery until Sunday morning. She was in a LOT of pain before the surgery and they also found that her potassium levels were dangerously low, most likely due to the infected gall bladder. She got a bit of morphine after the surgery on Sunday but when I asked her Monday if she had any pain, she said it was minimal compared to before. Monday there was slight confusion, she couldn't remember what day it was even though I had told her 3 times in a little over an hour. That night, after I left, they gave her a shot of delaudate (sp?) which I am told is a very storng pain killer (which she didn't need). The next morning, Tuesday, she told me about the monster in the cabinet and other things supposedly going on outside her window. I went and told the nurse and they then gave her a shot of Atavan, which made her very irritable and restless. She was trying to peel her sheet into layers, looking for stamps I supposedly collect (I don't) between the sheets cause they had just been there etc. Since she didn't calm down and go to sleep, they then followed that up with the Haldol and from there is was 100% dillusional. Yes, they gave her a LOT of meds and I will find out why. No one at the hospital told me that elderly people can have a reaction like this from the anesthesia or meds, and with all those drugs, she never went to sleep. We had a heck of a time keeping her in bed or in a wheelchair with a tray on so she couldn't get up. When my daughter and I slipped out for about 45 minutes to get something to eat, she became so agitated they wheeled her up to the nurses station, where she proceeded to scream the place down, so they had to put her back to bed. Only after my daughter and I came back did she calm down a little, although still seeing things.

I felt like I was totally alone in this and had no idea what was happening to her, someone told me they had seen something like this with a relative and the anesthesia set off full blown alzheimers/dementia in that person. I was truly terrified when I posted here last night, but she does seem to be coming around today and I'm hoping tomorrow will be even better as far as her personality/memory. The physical rehab is nothing compared to thinking she had totally lost her mind.

Sorry to take up so much of a "book" board about my mother, but I knew others here had experience with elderly parents and their health problems, I just knew someone here would be able to shed some light for me, and I appreciate it more than I can say!

Now back to your regular scheduled program 🙂