My 76 year old mother had a total hip replacement Tuesday. Her physical health is fine and doing well with PT, but she is very confused. This has happened during 2 other hospital stays. The worst part is she turns on me - her only support. She saw "confusion " on the hospital room board and is convinced I wrote it. I am hopeful this will resolve when she is discharged, but her cognitive abilities are continuing to go down. She is very difficult- we tried 4 different home health agencies before AL. Thankful for an overall good AL where she will be able to go to skilled nursing for rehab. Hoping familiar faces and surroundings will help. Any suggestions to stay sane when the person you are trying to help is against you? I have learned so much from all your posts!
You cannot do anything to help speed up the process. Don't argue with her, just acknowledge any complaints she has or change the subject. Redirect, much as you would do with sundowning behaviors of dementia. I hope they the possibility of this happening was discussed before the scheduling of the surgery.
Once when my mom was in the hospital, she kept pointing to the white board in the room, which had her BP written on it. She kept pointing and weeping. She seemed to think that those numbers meant something dreadful but couldn't explain what.
This "hospital delirium" is pretty common in elders and often clears up. Lots of reassurance, and short visits if she seems agitated by your presence.
Also, tell her medical team that this is NOT typical of your mom's behavior and mention that you are concerned that she could have a UTI (something that often causes confusion in elders).
It can't hurt to check.