Yesterday I dropped off my mom at physical therapy and she seemed fine. Picked her up an hour later and the therapist said she had starting speaking in gibberish on and off, and that I should take her to the ER. So i collected my aunt (her sister) on the way and we went to the ER. I've been here all night although Dane came and spelled me for a bit this morning so I could go home and shower, change. Susan (my sister) is coming from Kansas City in about an hour.
Mom probably had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), basically a transient stroke where the blood vessels narrow for a bit, but then for whatever reason the blood starts getting through again. Also her sodium was low. So far she's been on IV to get her sodium back up but nothing else. They plan to add baby aspirin to her daily meds to try to prevent more TIAs.
She hasn't been speaking gibberish since she was in the ER where they started the sodium IV. Not that she feels good, just it's not nonsense. Brains are so weird, she would try to talk and hear herself and she knew the words didn't make sense; weren't what she was trying to say.
Last night after transferring from ER to hospital room she had stopped the gibberish but remained confused. Kept thinking she was in the hospital for constipation (something that troubles her regularly because of the different drugs she is on).
Therapy will be here at some point today to see what her balance, standing, sitting, walking,, etc are like to evaluate if she's safe to go home, so they think she will likely be here for observation until tomorrow.
Hard to imagine given the state she's in at the moment that she could be alone at home any time soon. This situation may move forward the idea of assisted living that we have floated with her before with limited success. Or maybe she will rebound considerably, you never know.
Tired...
From the extraordinary heart and mind of
Jill Nienhiser
