Husband got sick last week ended up in hospital with pneumonia and sepsis and now he is home to recuperate. His dementia is worse! Doesn't know his birthday, and struggled to make a cup of coffee. I read that pneumonia in older patients causes some memory issues. Do you think it will improve or is this the beginning of the end? It is frightening. He has an ostomy as well. And last night he unhooked the bag in the middle of the night. Her never did that before.
He was gravely ill with sepsis and kidney/bladder failure/infection in Fall 2014 and was recovering for some time after. He was frail and more disoriented than before. I’m not sure he’s ever recovered to the more spry guy he was when I first started caregiving to his mother in 2011, but he was able to come back some from being very ill and is at a stable place and a new normal for him, now 4.5 years later. I think his quality of life is as good as could be expected and he seems content.
I’m not a medical pro in the least, but I think what you want to aim for with your hubs is his new normal, whatever that is going to be for him. Dementia and aging are both a one way street. Having realistic expectations may help you to understand when he is recovered as much as he can be, and you can take comfort in that. Give it a couple months of recovery to see how his behavior and cognitive abilities improve.
So if there is an Adult Day Care that he can attend I think that would do you both a world of good.
I missed my Husband for years before he died. But every once in a while something would happen that would make me laugh, in turn he would laugh and I would get a glimpse of what once was. It was bitter-sweet those moments. You sometimes have to look for those times.
Is your husband on Hospice, or have you checked to see if he would be eligible for Hospice? You would get a lot of help from them, 2 or more times a week you would have a CNA that would come in and help bathe him, order supplies, a Nurse would come to check him medically, you would have a Social Worker that can help as well. A variety of therapists from music, art, massage and for you a volunteer that would come in and give you a break once in a while, or as often as once a week.
((Hugs)) and hang in there.