Staying in hospital with Dad is not boring…and of course his anxiety peaked when the nurses didn’t answer his call immediately. I have been up and down with mom. She was staying with her caregiver, Claudia, downstairs. Dad’s doctor finally came in after he had been using the call button and asking, “what is going to happen to me?” He’ll be transported to “nursing home” for a few days… doctor’s words but we know it as rehab.
Dad was admitted August 15, 2021 after falling at 2:00 in the morning. He couldn’t sleep and went to the den to watch TV. He did everything wrong after attempting to sit on the couch the first time. He realized he didn’t have his remote and walked up the ramp to look for it on the table. After turning on the light, he saw it on the couch. He backed down the ramp after turning the light off and walked toward the couch with the walker behind him. As he turned toward the couch, he fell forward fracturing his hip. He called out for help which I heard through the baby monitor. I called for brother who arrived in the den before me. We didn’t realize what caused the fall until I saw it on the camera.
I used his CRS button to call for the ems to pick him up. They arrived and placed him on the wheelchair and put him in bed. Shortly after they left, he complained about pain in his hip after I had placed the wedge pillow under his legs. I used the CRS button to call for an ambulance which transported him to the hospital.
The orthopedic surgeon arrived to look at the x-rays, verified the fracture in his left hip and immediately started scheduling the surgery. Surgery began shortly after 11:00 and continued until shortly after one. I was in the recovery room with Dad. His stay at this hospital has been less stressful for me. His anxiety is checked to a certain point. He is on one of the medications they had given him at his stay at the GBU, (Geriatric Behavior Unit) at Providence on Mesa Street.
Dad had gone in the previous week after suffering from extreme anxiety. I took him to the doctor on August 7, 2021. He had expressed to Mom and her friend that he didn’t want to live anymore. I took him home after that comment and after expressing it to me and telling me he wanted to stab himself with a knife, I took him to the doctor. They immediately referred me to the GBU (Geriatric Behavior Unit) at Providence Hospital. He stayed there from August 8-11 and came home with new medications for anxiety. He slept through the night the first night he was home. The second night he got up in the middle of the night. I heard him and followed him into the den. I watched on the camera and helped him back to bed. We repeated th9at for 3 nights and on the 15th I was so tired I didn’t hear him get up, but I did wake up with his call for help on the baby monitor. I was hoping my brother would take over the watch, but he didn’t.
Mom wants to stay with Dad. So we have been here all morning. We ate lunch with Dad and we will be here until they transport him between 2:00-2:30. 8.17.21
