My husband (age 74) started having problems walking (complained of
"lead feet"). Then a few days ago while at the dentist (after having
had novacaine), he again had trouble walking, grabbed a nearby wall
and held on and then became unresponsive while standing there for @ 5
minutes. We headed to the emergency room where they took a cat scan
and did a EKG and found nothing. We've got an appointment for an MRI
in a couple of weeks (the earliest apt. available). Meanwhile, he's
developed an assortment of symptoms...the most frightening of which is
mental confusion. He's asked me the same question over and over and
never remembers any answers. Other problems he's mentioned are
heartburn (he's got a very large hiatal hernia, takes prilosec daily
and still suffers from frequent heartburn), ringing and other noises
in his ears, vision abnormalities (sees lights), constipation,
vomitting.
Then, on the way to bed, he fell and was unresponsive for @ 5 minutes.
I called 911 and they took him to the hospital for yet another cat
scan & EKG (which incidentally showed an old mini-stroke) and this
time admitted him. They're thinking that he might have had a stroke.
Another possibility that our Doctor had previously mentioned was
problems relating to his medications....especially doxepin (which he
took for sleeping and have now discontinued). He also takes Paxil
which (from web searching) I understand might interact.
He's also developed slurred speech and, it appears to me that his
mouth is drooping on one side a little.
My Husband, to say the least, is a lousy patient and is literally
BEGGING me to take him out of the hospital and go home. He's
threatening to take a cab home if I won't take him and he's stubborn
enough to actually do it. (He has neither his wallet nor house keys
at the hospital and I've told him I won't let him in the house if he
tries to pull a stunt like that).
So far they haven't done any tests and I've been unable to find out
any information except vague info that they have an MRI "scheduled"
but I can't find out when. Also, hubby had bad heartburn last night
and I found out that the hospital has not been giving him his usual
medications. Is there a reason he shouldn't be taking his prilosec,
etc.?
I guess my biggest question is.... Would it be a lousy idea to bring
him home from the hospital (and then bring him back for tests)? His
begging is wearing me down. I admit that I'm starting to agree with
him that the hospital is giving less than great care (He didn't get
any food till almost 1 PM and that was after I nudged them), no
perscriptions were given and he had bad heartburn last night, and I've
been unable to get much information from them on anything nor have I
been able to talk to his doctor or the neurologist who spoke to him
for a few moements in the hospital.
Really appreciate some suggestions! I don't know what to do. Hubby
is using emotional blackmail to try to get me to take him home but I'm
still not sure what I should do.
Thanks.
Sandy