New development..... wondering

[DGabriel10]

They have been adjusting Dad's meds because he was sleeping 12 to 14 hour at night, almost impossible to rouse, and spending most of his day sleeping in his chair. Evidently he woke up!! I just got an e-mail from my sister. Evidently Dad was found in the stair well twice Monday night at 11 pm and again at 3 am. Mom was sleeping. Today Dad went out the front door and told the receptionist that went and got him that he was going "home". They are putting a GPS wondering bracelet on him tonight. Mom again said she was sleeping when he left but she had told me earlier that she was going to send him downstairs to get the mail. I wonder if he just got confused and was leaving the post office. The mail boxes are close to the front door. Either way if he is going to roam the halls alone he needs tracking. Mom has been sick with three different viruses since before Christmas and is more confused than before so less able to keep up with him. I just hung up the phone from talking to her and she had no memory of the staff bringing him back or talking to my sister about Dad's wondering. I am SOOOOOOOOO glad they are in Assisted Living. It is amazing how fast they have gone down hill since September......

Love, Deb

[Martha H]

Dear Deb .. this is a dangerous stage. It was while my Mom was wandering around my brothers house in the night that she fell, broke her hip, never recovered. 2.5 years later she finally passed away after spending all that time in wheelchairs or bed.

I too am so happy for you that you got your parents into a safe place before this wandering appeared. It is usually a temporary problen but while it is going on it can be so scary and dangerous. People have wandered away and been lost, found on dark highways in the middle of the night ...

Thak God you got them both safe!

love,

Martha

[ibake&pray]

Deb,
I am soo glad that they "caught" your Dad before he got too far! My mom was "banded" for migratory flight I used to say. She esacaped once...A person coming to visit another resident found her on the sidewalk down the block and brought her back in. Then she escaped with the drug delivery man and one other time-but that was an interior run and not so bad.

You really do need the banding. It at least lets folks know that they have a soul on the loose! Mom didn't stay in that stage long, but it was scary for the staff and for us. Especially for the staff cause I'm such a nasty person to have to call and tell that Mom has "escaped yet again." I won't bore you with the details except to say when I asked the nurse "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" She repeated it again very slowly and clearly. Funny, the tone I used is the one that my kids know better than to answer. We chuckle about it now-I don't think that nurse has ever chuckled. I called and left messages with the social worker, the head nurse and the head charge nurse. They must have know I would blow up cause they called Dad the first time to settle Mom down...self preservation I think....

You are lucky your parents are safe. Mom's LPN said that one of her patients escaped and was found 5 miles away on a busy highway-in his stocking feet at 1 am...the extra security is something that is such a blessing.

thank heavens for guardian angels....

[DGabriel10]

Thank you Ibake and Martha. I remember my Grannie's wondering too well. I keep hoping this is related to medication changes but I know better. That is me trying to apply my logical brain to this illogical disease. He has also had a few episodes of fecal incontinence as well. He has been checked for a UTI, which he doesn't have, but this does come on the heels of the really bad viral infection he had. Mom has been checked for a UTI as well and had the same viral infection times three and I have noticed a marked decrease in her abilities as well. Her ability to keep him close by seems to be deminishing.

The receptionist that is usually at the front door doesn't have a great personality and sometimes she drops the ball when ask to do something but she is johnny on the spot when it comes to patients going out that door. They are required to sign out and those that are capable of doing so do that. If they go out without stopped at the sign out she she goes after them. I have watched her drop the phone or leave a family member in mid sentence to grab the arm of a resident before they got beyond the second set of doors. She's good!

I actually chuckled out loud at "banded for migratory flight". What a great line. We have told Mom and Dad that the monitor is to monitor his medication changes. Mom has been hung up on why his medication changes are not working for days so it's actually solved two problems. Evidently they are working because he woke up and became the wonderer! A little side note. In the first patient review my sisters were told that they needed to take Dad's pocket knife. We didn't even realize he still had it. They just ask to borrow it and never gave it back. He has not mentioned it since. Evidently he had been helping the little old ladies by cutting those ugly bracelets off their arms. Yes.... you got it... the GPS monitoring devices for the wonderers.

Each day is a new adventure......

Love, deb

PS Ibake.... I know that tone of voice and have used it!!

[DGabriel10]

Update.... At midnight last night there were multiple staff members in Mom and Dad's apartment clearning out all the sharp objects because Dad had decided to cut the GPS bracelet off his arm. Amazing how their minds work. Today they moved it to the same wrist with his wrist watch and now he thinks it a beautiful. Mom think's if funny that he likes it but has no idea why it is there. I noticed for the first time today that is was losing her words. It is something new all the time.....

Love, deb