Do you know your Home Health Care Agency's

Hi Sue

How are you. I talked to the Home health care owner and the nurse was fired. Ray is getting a new nurse and I have been promised that nothing like that will happen again. thanks to that nurses mouth he had what they are calling a maniac attack thursday. He never gets up before eleven oclock ever. I wake him at nine for his meds and again at ten and the he sleeps until eleven everyday because he sundowns and dosen't go to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Thursday morning he was up fully dressed and ready to go some place he didn't know where just out. All of a sudden he became very hostile and started screaming at me. Usually I can calm him down but this day I could not. He was acting very agressive and I kept my phone in my hand and furniture between us, after I saw he was just getting worse I dressed quickly and left the house. I called the agency and they told me to have some one watch his bedroom window and if he didn't calm down call 911. My neighbor did and I went and drank coffee. My neighbor called to tell me he had gotten back in bed and was sleeping so I came home. I think it was his version of sleep walking he is in a wheelchair so he dosen't actually walk but he went to be and then when he woke up at his usual time he acted as if nothing had happened. He has horrible nightmares and I think he had one and thought I was someone else. He is behaving normally for him now so I pray that crisis is over. I was afraid I was going to have to call 911 but thankfully he settled back down. thank you so much for your concern and advise. I will give this agency another chance but if it dosen't improve with the new nurse on to another agency. Your friend Connie

Hi I am so happy you wrote me back. You got it through the private message link on this site. It is a very difficult time we are going through and it is really hard to talk about but it truly does help. At a time like this you are so filled with emotions and it is normal. It took me a very long time before I could really open up and bottling it up inside of me was eating me up. You get angry very angry and question why is this happening to your loved one. As each day passes and you face each new problem it gets harder but you can survive alzheimers and you have to keep reminding yourself that. You also can't lose you it happens very easy because you become so consumed in the care of your loved one you forget to make time for your self and your own health. I made that mistake and have paid for it dearly. I have severe ostioporosis and fell and broke my hip. I have to deal with that now and still care for my husband. I have him still at home but a home health agency comes in to check on him too, that's one of the best decisions I have made. Unfortunately with him having congestive heart failure too we will soon be moving to hospice care. Still in the home but that is the beginning of the end. They don't start that until the organs start to fail and his slowly are.

Do you know what stage of alzheimer you are dealing with. Even though you aren't the patient with it you suffer right along with them and you almost feel like this disease is a part of you because in many ways it is. Your life as you knew it changed the day the diagnosis is made. You can do this. Please feel free to write as often as you want I will help in any way I can. Talk and talk some more. Ask questions it really helps. Your new friend in Texas. Hang in there until we talk again. Connie