Boomers Caught in The Middle: Dad Goes Back to The Hospital!
A short 25 days later, an email from Dave and the Assisted Living explained that one of their aides had noticed Dad had a cold and that there was blood in his urine. He had a UTI (urinary track infection). He was taken to the hospital for tests and had a catheter placed and intravenous antibiotics begun. Following the treatment for the infection, they removed the catheter so he could return to assisted living. Once again, we were in a frustrating waiting game to see if Dad was OK without the catheter.
In a phone call to Dad I tried to encourage him to drink lots of liquids and be sure he gets up to walk. When I explained that he was back in the hospital because of an infection, he stubbornly responded that he DID NOT have an infection. He said that the blood in his urine was from grape juice that he had spilled! This demonstrates how Dementia can be. My Dad is still smart, so he tries to figure out solutions. He obviously figures that if it’s just grape juice, he should be able to get out of the hospital!
My brother and I are not medical professionals, but we are convinced that taking him off the prostate meds during his first hospitalization was clearly a mistake. Apparently, they often do that to clear all the meds out of the patient’s system. But Dad was only on 2 prostate meds upon admission. We’re not sure that taking him off of them was the best thing for him. So, Dave made sure he was taken to a different hospital this time.
In a conversation with Dad’s current hospital nurse she confirmed that he was still on the Coumadin due to heart irregularities and he was back on his 2 prostate meds. She also explained that they had taken out the catheter to see if he could function without it. He can’t return to the Assisted Living with a catheter.
About 4 days into this new hospital stay, I finally had a great talk with my Dad. With the infection gone, he was pretty alert. We talked about him going back to the Assisted Living in a day or 2 and that that was where he lives now. He said that he would like to go home, but acknowledged he had no choice. This is good. He finally seemed resolved to the fact that he could not live at the farm again.
But unfortunately he was not able to function without the catheter, so we began making plans to move him to the VA Home skilled nursing unit. The VA Home provides assisted living in a skilled nursing environment. This is what Dad needed now.
