A Bad Couple of Days - Update
Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:25 pmMy mom, who is 85yo with dementia and ALZ, has been having rectal bleeding and discomfort for several months now. Initially we declined a colonoscopy because of concerns with anesthesia but recently she's had significant pain and other issues so she was scheduled for one today. She went through the week of prep pretty well, even the liquid diet and prep solution yesterday. When the solution started taking effect, well I won't get into the gory details other than she was in significant pain and anxiety, but it became a disaster. It got to the point where we called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. This was around 1:30am. After an exam by the ER doctor and a CT scan it was determined she had a significant mass just inside her rectum. The colonoscopy was moved to the hospital and her GI specialist took a biopsy. She showed me the photos and said that regardless of the biopsy results we are going to have 3 options. 1) surgery because it is cancerous, 2) surgery because it continues to prolapse outside her rectum and can become cancerous, or 3) do nothing.
If you aren't familiar with dementia, as I wasn't a year or so ago, you probably don't know that anesthesia is the absolute worst thing you can put someone with dementia through. It was after my mom's cataract surgery that she was first diagnosed with dementia. Prior to that, it was normal memory loss due to her age. That's how much of a notable difference anesthesia made. I do not think that I can accept the almost certain risks that a significant surgery will cause.
I had 2 hours of sleep last night - or rather this morning and a couple more this afternoon.
Can I tell you all how hellacious dementia is? It doesn't just reduce a person's cognitive abilities, it takes away Who that person is. So much of my mom is already gone. She's declined in just the past couple of months. One of my husband's family members had a birthday party in November. She remembered everyone and had a good time. We had a family dinner on New Year's Day and she was in tears half the way there because she didn't remember any of them. She introduced herself to people she's known for 3 years. Thankfully she still enjoyed herself. But when will she forget the name of her best friend? Or my daughter? Or me?
I hate this.
If you aren't familiar with dementia, as I wasn't a year or so ago, you probably don't know that anesthesia is the absolute worst thing you can put someone with dementia through. It was after my mom's cataract surgery that she was first diagnosed with dementia. Prior to that, it was normal memory loss due to her age. That's how much of a notable difference anesthesia made. I do not think that I can accept the almost certain risks that a significant surgery will cause.
I had 2 hours of sleep last night - or rather this morning and a couple more this afternoon.
Can I tell you all how hellacious dementia is? It doesn't just reduce a person's cognitive abilities, it takes away Who that person is. So much of my mom is already gone. She's declined in just the past couple of months. One of my husband's family members had a birthday party in November. She remembered everyone and had a good time. We had a family dinner on New Year's Day and she was in tears half the way there because she didn't remember any of them. She introduced herself to people she's known for 3 years. Thankfully she still enjoyed herself. But when will she forget the name of her best friend? Or my daughter? Or me?
I hate this.