Problems With Mom After Knee Replacement Surgery - Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Message Board

Vicky67 · 10-02-2007, 02:25 AM

confused: Hello to everyone I was reading all the post here. They are very helpful, but I want to share my story with you all and get your thoughts.

My mom had a knee replacement on 08/20/07 she just turned 75. Before surgery she was forgetful and had slight memory issues also not driving to well. When she came out of anestehsia she was so confused she didn't even know she had surgery. That's all understandable at her age. She attempted to get out of the bed to use the bathroom and fell then the knee opened up and they had to go back in and clean it up.(more anestehsia) She came out of that worst than the first time they wanted to put restraints on her because of her combativeness. I spent so many nights in that hospital no one want to see there loved one in those things.

Since this time my mother is a total different person. She thinks she's right all the time no matter what I say. She was told at my request to the doctor not to drive, because she thinks she lives in new york. She keeps talking about someone coming in the house a family member sleeping in the spare room,she's also packed two suitcases the other day and had them in the garage talking about she was going to my sister house who lives in NY. My mom dosen't seem to realize she lives in N.C. She keeps asking me when is she going home not realizing she is already home. Then there is the issues with the kids she keeps mentioning that are coming over she never mentions there names. I was wondering if she is talking about her grands but there all in NY. She also not eating like she should or drinking as much as she should.

I'm having a hard time dealing with this, because I'm the only family she has here. The rest of my siblings are in NY and nobody has even tried to come down and help out. She is scheduled to see her primary care doc on wed. and hopefuly he will do a cat scan to see if anything is going on or if it's from the anestehsia. (I know I'm not spelling that right)

Any and all help and advice would be greatly appreciated. I think I'm going to be a regular here.

Martha H · 10-02-2007, 05:17 AM

I hope for your sake that all this confusion was caused by the operation and anesthetic. Maybe it wil clear up with time.

All her symptoms sound like dementia. A good neurologist or geriatrician ought to examine her. Maybe it is early enough so that certain medicines will help.

Meanwhile she absolutely cannot drive. If necessary, you may have to disable the car.

Is your Mom on any new medications since her operation? Some of them can also cause dementia like symptoms, as can a blader infection (UTI) ...

Try to keep a close eye on her financial affairs since this is a time when many people are scammed.

I wish you luck and great patience. Perhaps you can get her to assign Power of Attorney to you to help her with banking etc?

Love,
Martha

Vicky67 · 10-02-2007, 05:59 AM

Thanks for such a quick response Martha and the kind words. Well the only new medication she taking is hydrocondone for pain everything else is the same. I will have to see what the doc say's tomorrow in the meantime I'm going to be stopping by his office today since they can't return my phone call. I handle all her finances as far as bills, but she's not doing to good in that area either she's always losing or misplacing her money in the house. Have you ever heard of repeatedly putting things in plastic bags then taking them out over and over again this is something she also does.

Take Care
Vicky

Gabriel · 10-02-2007, 08:30 AM

Hi Vicky from a fellow NCer. I remember two specific episodes with my Mom and Hydrocodone. My Mom does have Alzheimer but every time she is on Hydrocodone the symptoms were so much worse. Actually it was an episode with Hydrocodone that first brought her cognitive impairments into focus.

Mom is very intelligent and even though she realized it she hid, from everybody including her doctor, the fact that she was having cognitive problems. Twice she was on hydrocodone and both times her behavior was even more bizzare. She lead us to believe it was the medication. The first time she was on hydrocodone was for shingles. She had an antiviral medication and hydrocodone prescribed. I told her that she only needed to take the hydrocodone if necessary for pain but needed to take the antiviral as prescribed. A few days later I had to go home because Mom was not acting right. I discovered that she was taking the hydrocodone and not the antiviral. From what we can figure out she took one hydrocodone for pain (which she really didn't need) and them became so confused she started taking the wrong pills. I spent almost a week at home until the effects of that medication were gone.

At that point we were clued into the fact that something was wrong other than the medication. A few months later, after another drug incident with Dad and Xanax, I had Mom diagnosed by MARS in Wilmington. A few months later Mom broke her arm and once again she was on hydrocodone. It made her cognitive symptoms so much worse. We changed to a half strength percoset and that helped some. It does not effect her behavior like the hydrocodone. Mom does have Alzheimer and I have flushed many hydrocodone pills because she is so much worse when she is on them.

I too hope that the behavior you are seeing is due to the surgery or medication but it does sound consistent with dementia. As for placing item in and out of the bag, my mom's thing was fixing the pine straw in the flower beds. She had new straw put out but was not satified so she sat in the flower beds for days taking out all the old straw, picking out every piece of trash from the new straw, and carefully placing the new clean straw. She did this one handfull at a time and we have 100's of feet of flower beds. Some of the areas she did more than once and if a leaf would fall in what she had already done she would go pick it out. This started last March and she was still working at it for hours daily when she was moved to assisted living 3 weeks ago.

Please take Martha's advice about the POA. Mom and Dad did that for us and it has been a god send. Beyond that do watch out for scammers. Mom was well on her way to giving a large sum of money to some B rated insurance guys she met at a local restaurant when I stepped in. It was the first hydrocodone experience that made me look.

I do wish the best for you and your Mom and hope this is all just the effects of the medication. Kudos to you for being observant and proactive in trying to find an explination.

Love, Deb

Vicky67 · 10-05-2007, 08:51 PM

Well I took my mom to her doctor on weds. They did a full work up on her including a Cat Scan she couldn't have an MRI because she had a anyerisim many years ago and they put clips in. The doctor told me to take her off the hydrocodone and let's see what happens. She has been off for two days and I guess it's still in her system because she's still confused. She's still thinking of my nieces and nephews as baby's and not sure of were she lives. Any suggestions about money handling my mom has this thing with wanting money on her at all times, but the thing is everytime she goes to the bank she takes it out. Then the next day when I take her out she can't find her money. It's just taking a toll on me and my finances sometimes, but you only get one mom so I have to do what I have to. She will not let me hold onto the money for her because she feels she in total control. This is all to much for her because she say's it all the time "what is wrong with me" and "why can't I remember anything" all I can do is re-explain things and reasure her. I really appreciate your feedback you guys are so helpful.