Yesterday was not a good day for my dad. He was plagued with
anxiety and agitation all day…talking nonsense to the air…picking at unseen
things…restless legs…and grabbing the bars on the bedrails every few minutes
and banging them back and forth. His eyes were drooping with exhaustion…but his
body would not relax.
The Hospice nurse came late morning, assessed him and pulled
a new medication from the comfort bag. Within a few minutes, he was beginning
to calm down. This will now be given morning and evening to help with the
agitation.
He has had bowel issues for over a week now…and so far there
is no resolution. Yesterday when the nurse listened to his abdomen…there were
almost no bowel sounds. The nurse doesn’t know if this is a result of
constipation…or if his bowels are shutting down. They have been giving him a laxative
for three days now…with no results. Twice the nurse has attempted to empty his
bowels manually also with no success. His bladder has been going back and forth
between dumping unbelievable amounts of urine…to going for days with almost no
output.
On top of everything else…he has now developed a bad rash on
his back. It doesn’t seem to itch or bother him…but the nurse took pictures and
emailed them to the doctor in Wichita to determine how to best treat it.
As a side note…today is my birthday. I am fighting the worst
depression/anxiety that I have had in a while today. Getting older doesn’t
bother me at all…I have always believed that age is just a number…we are as old
as we want to be. But this year…mom is gone…and dad is going very shortly. It
just feels wrong. I don’t really have a celebratory bone in my body today….and
I have been close to tears since I woke up this morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment