When I visit her she just slightly turns her head to the side when I call her name but she will not raise her chin away from her chest. I have been told that this is a contracture but I am just wondering if anyone on the forum has experienced this? The memory care facility thought that a neck brace would help but she won't wear it any more than a few minutes. My mom is still able to walk but she only weighs 101 pounds and she was previously around 200 pounds. Her hands and feet also swell from time to time, especially her left hand and the facility feels that this is a contracture forming as well.
You have every right to feel as you do.
I would feel exactly as you do if I were watching someone in your wife’s situation.
I wish you peace during this most difficult period time in your life.
accidents and neglect happen in those places. If something happened in a setting like that, for which your mom was not admitted originally for.. for instance, a friend's mom went into hospital for an operation. She came home with a stage 4 bedsore. She didn't go in with a bedsore, but went home with a very bad one.. It took months for her to recover...
Does your mom have CHF?
Has she had recent falls that the facility didn't mention to you? when was the last time you saw her walk?
And she is on hospice.. hospice is to make her comfortable.. hospice is great. They give her more attention, and supplies.
What I have personally witnessed, Medications deemed not necessary, will be removed. My LO's were taken off blood pressure and cholesterol meds, and others, that I really don't recall. And when they graduate out of hospice, they may go back on them with their insurance, etc.
I don't know everything, but do ask the hospice doctor, seriously, what is going on? Your mom went into hospital for a reason.
Please ask the questions. It will be hard to hear the answers, but it will be a start.
My LO used to walk, then wheel chair, and now, they just don't move her. She has a hoyer lift, to move her... She hurts when they use it. It is very hard to see her in that condition...
Thanks for your response. I may have worded "due to a hospital stay" incorrectly. My mom was sent to the hospital because she was declining (difficulty walking, a cough that turned out to be pneumonia and weight loss amongst other things). During her hospital stay she continued to decline and the hospital suggested that she be placed on hospice. My mom doesn't have CHF and she has been taken off of most of her medications. When her neurologist found out that she was being placed on hospice she suggested that she remain on her blood pressure and anxiety medication. The reason for remaining on the blood pressure medication is to hopefully avoid a stroke because a having a stroke doesn't mean you are going to pass it just means that you may be worse off than before. These are the only 2 medications that she is currently prescribed. The last time I saw my mom walking was November 30th when I went to visit her. The memory care facility also sends regular videos of her walking and dancing.
She is walking a little less than she was previously but way more than the average person would walk in a days time. She isn't bed bound and is currently on hospice due to a hospital stay in March 2020. The doctor's gave her 2 weeks to 2 months to live and it is 8 months later. When she returned to the facility she was placed on hospice and was given a wheelchair because she was having difficulty walking but that only lasted for about 2 weeks because she refused to stay in the wheelchair and got up and started walking again.
Best wishes to you.