My Mother

I'm perplexed.

About 6 weeks ago, Mom took a bad fall in her room at the nursing center because she was trying to walk around the room without assistance.  We spent several hours in the Emergency Room as they ran tests and did a CT scan.  The doctor finally decided she just had a mild concussion and LOTS of bruising.  She was taken back to the nursing center with instructions for caring for her.

Before the fall occurred, Mom had been having visual hallucinations of bugs and spiders in her room, on her bed, and on her.  Some of this is due to her failing eyesight, but we were a little puzzled as to what else could be causing it.  With some research and help from the psychologist that sees her, we were able to finally figure out that some of it was, also, due to the advancing Parkinson's Disease and the medications for it.  Our family doctor worked with us on reducing the one medicine most likely to be causing this and supplementing it with a different med that would still help with the tremors.  The "nerve crawling" sensation still hasn't stopped, but Mom has accepted that the bugs aren't really there and that it is her own body causing the feeling.

Since the fall, though, Mom has started having auditory hallucinations.  She's positive she's hearing people call her name over intercoms or talking about her in the hallway.  She's called me absolutely distraught because she says someone is taking her to court and they are broadcasting it on the tv's and intercoms at the nursing center.  She has become extremely paranoid.

I talked to the Care Coordinator this week about this and asked for her help.  I had done some more research about concussions and long-term effects on the elderly.  Since Mom is on blood thinners, I'm concerned that maybe what showed as a mild concussion on the CT scan, may have become a slow-bleed in her brain and that instead of the concussion going away, it is increasing.  I've talked to them about having an MRI done to rule this or any other major trauma out.  They are also having some Neurological tests done on her.

Some of the things Mom is dealing with, are things she has fought all of her life, but are becoming more intense as she gets older.  The paranoia, the fear of bugs--old news.  But some of these things are new--hearing things, seeing things???  Mom's eyesight is very bad, and she has cataracts that cannot be removed because even under sedation her eyeballs and eyelids tremor.  She's been supposed to wearing hearing aids for years and without them everyone who talks to her has to have her look right at them and still yell talk loudly and slowly for her to understand even half of what is said. We had to buy her earphones to plug into her tv so that she could hear it.

I'm just very unsure what else I can do to give her any kind of relief or peace.  That's the center of the prayer I pray for her each day--Please just let her be at peace.  Watching her body fall apart inch by inch has been so hard, but watching her mind go to pieces is worse.

As much as I need you to pray for her, I, also, need you to pray for me--for wisdom in decisions and for strength.