Explain to him that the Hospital is the safest
place for him to be - the fact that they're not
giving him his normal meds probably means
that they are trying to find a "baseline" - which
is necessary, but inherently dangerous - so it's
good that he's in the Hospital, where quick re-
action can occur.
It's not unlikely that what was occurring was a
reaction to the drug s he was taking.
Drugs are often 'prescribed' overly-casually, without
proper pre-prescription analyses [My Dad went through
all of this, so I saw the Error in-it, and the unnecessary
costs].
What you should do is be with your Husband,
giving him comfort in the midst of the 'strangeness'
of the Hospital, =and= interacting with Hospital
Staff in ways that your Husband cannot. Don't
let the Hospital Staff allow your Husband to
'vegitate'. Lift him up in his Dignity. Through
your own Caring, teach the Hospital Staff
what it is that they should be doing.
You know, go through it =together=.
[And, if your Husband is a difficult patient,
give Counsel to him, too - eliminate the
'unfamiliarity' inherent - by being-there,
with-him.]
k. p. collins
"sandy" <paleonutsandy at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:6d99d0e0.0402210406.16476211 at posting.google.com...
> 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